Slavery in British North America

Slavery in British North America

* Historians normally date the start of slavery in the North American colonies to 1619, when the first slaves from Africa arrived to North America.

* The concept of slaves and slavery in England had died out after the eleventh century. Therefore it is believed that English immigrants to the Caribbean gained the idea of enslavement from the Spanish people.

o The Spanish people had adopted slavery after Columbus's famous voyage in 1492. This decision was influenced by the fact that Native Americans (whom Spaniards had attempted to enslave at first) were seen as unsuitable for the harsh labor.

 Because of that, English people needed slaves from Africa. Africans were cheap and effective workers.

* Many slaves in British North America were owned by plantation owners who lived in Britain.

* Only a fraction of the enslaved Africans brought to the New World ended up in British North America--perhaps 5%. The vast majority of slaves shipped across the Atlantic were sent to the Caribbean sugar colonies, Brazil, or Spanish America.

* Growth of slavery in the 17th Century was the result of the growth of the colonies themselves. As colonists moved in and started colonies, they needed a labor force to run them. African slavery was the cheapest and most effective source of this labor.

* Although slaves had been sold in the American colonies since at least 1619, slave labor did not come to represent a significant proportion of the labor force in any part of North America until the last quarter of the 17th century.

o After that time, the numbers of slaves grew exponentially. By 1776, African Americans comprised about 20% of the entire population in the 13 mainland colonies.

* The treatment of the slaves varied by the time and place, but generally it was very brutal and harsh. They were punished by whipping, beating, burning, execution and sexual abuse, for example rapes were common.

o Slaves were punished for a number of reasons: working too slowly, breaking a law (for example, running away) and leaving the plantation without permission.

* The Africans in Jamestown in the beginning of slavery in British North America were considered more to be servants rather than slaves. They were granted freedom after they finished their time of servitude.