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Slavery in Latin America America was probably the first continent were slavery began its origins, and definitely was the last one to abolish this evil practice. The Latin American region was the first one to be populated in from the North and South American continent. The first slaves, who were brought to the America, were brought by the European settlers. Today, their descendants form significant ethnic minorities in several Latin American countries, and they are the dominant element in many of the Caribbean nations. Over the centuries, black people have added their original contributions to the cultural mix of their respective societies and thus exerted a profound influence on all facets of life in Latin America. (1) The slavery in this region was the main source of labor for the sugar plantations of Brazil, while the importance of slavery in Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia was not as great due to the fact that there were no great plantations there. Slaves in these regions were mainly used to tame the wilderness, build cities, establish plantations, and exploit mineral wealth, the Europeans needed more laborers than they could recruit from among their own metropolitan masses. (1) African slaves were very important due to the fact that he indigenous people of the region did not submit to the will of the newcomers.
Due to the fact that many of the natives died the African slaves were imported into the country, especially to the agricultural regions. With the course of time, the need for African slaves subsided, bringing the native people of the Americas to slavery. Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean the slave population declined at the astonishing rate of 2 to 4 percent a year; thus, by the time slavery was abolished, the overall slave population in many places was far less than the total number of slaves imported. The British colony of Jamaica, for example, imported more than 600, 000 slaves during the 18 th century; yet, in 1838, the slave population numbered little more than 300, 000. The French colony of Saint-Domingue (present Haiti) imported more than 800, 000 Africans during the 18 th century, but had only 480, 000 slaves in 1790, on the eve of the Haitian Slave Revolt. Between 1810 and 1870, the Spanish colony of Cuba acquired about 600, 000 slaves; in 1880, however, the Cubans had only 200, 000 slaves and an entire Afro-Cuban population of 450, 000.
Altogether, the 4. 7 million Africans imported to the South American continent. (1) The social system of that period (the colonial period) was generally known as the caste system (this was the leading trend of that time). The Colonial society was divided into three castes. The main caste were the Europeans, followed by the non-white who were free, and the bottom caste were the African slaves and the Native Americans. These castes were distinguished by different sets of rights and social privileges.
In the sugar-producing areas and other plantation-based economic units of Brazil, the Caribbean, and the lowlands of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, the rights of slaves as well as free persons of color tended to be legally circumscribed. In the coffee, cattle, and fishing areas of southern Brazil, Puerto Rico, eastern Cuba, the interior of Argentina, and Venezuela, social mobility tended to be greater and internal class and caste distinctions more relaxed and less formal. (1) In the major cities Africans were allowed to take major roles, at the same level as the Europeans. It was a socioeconomic complex held together by law and custom. Regardless of their conditions, their hopes for freedom were strong, and slaves often revolted. (1) In the Americas, just as in Spain slaves could buy their freedom. In general by the end of the 18 th century slavery was mostly abolished in this region. The region of Latin America was the first one to treat the slaves as equals and to accept them at all levels of governmental power.
By the 19 th century the free blacks outnumbered all the population of slaves in all regions of the South American continent. Literature used 1. Africans in the Carribean/Latin America. Retrieved from web
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Research essay sample on Slavery In Latin America
