Black People In. White People's Country

The African slave trade is one of the most significant event in history and controversial issue among many people. The subject consists of much debate as to why slavery was brought into America and why it was so important for colonists. The answer to this questions most likely lies within the racial prejudices and the New World's need for labor to fuel their growing economy.

When the first white man arrived on the coast of Africa he realized the backwardness of their culture and this is where the stereotype that whites were superior began. The slave trade began 1472 when Ruy do Sequira arrived at the coast of Benin, from there it is all history. The people of Benin seemed to hold a few skills that may be helpful to the portuguese. With the attitude of superiority, here they began capturing Africans to bring back with them as slaves. The raid intensified as Africans themselves began to sell out their own people fo more valuable goods such as guns, iron and other metals, and textiles. This policy most directly relates to the Europeans use of Mercantilism and the benefits they gained for their economy. Later the discovery of gold and silver in the Americas demanded more africans to go there to be used as free labor. However the biggest transforming factor of the slave trade was sugar. The trip to the New World was perhaps worse than actually working, only about half of those on their way to the New World actually saw it.

The English were not as quick to use black slaves as were the Spanish and he Portuguese. In America during the first few decades, labor was mostly done by white indentured servants. But with the decrease in the amount of white indentured servants, the english began participating in the slave trade. Slaves most likely existed in the south where there were acres upon acres of tobacco that they had to work on. With the increase of slaves in America they needed a way to control them. And so they created the slave codes. From there the Americans slowly started to strip away every right of the black man. Stereotyping and prejudices above all made it easy for colonists to back up their argument about their demanding use slavery for over three hundred years.