ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -For four hundred years, Africans were snatched from their homes and deported into the Americas where they were put to work in mines and plantations. Their sweat and blood served as a bedstone to the tremendous wealth still enjoyed in Europe and the Americas.

Detailed explanation-2: -Besides planting and harvesting, there were numerous other types of labor required on plantations and farms. Enslaved people had to clear new land, dig ditches, cut and haul wood, slaughter livestock, and make repairs to buildings and tools.

Detailed explanation-3: -The vast majority of enslaved Africans employed in plantation agriculture were field hands. Even on plantations, however, they worked in other capacities. Some were domestics and worked as butlers, waiters, maids, seamstresses, and launderers. Others were assigned as carriage drivers, hostlers, and stable boys.

Detailed explanation-4: -The settlements required a large number of laborers to sustain them. Because these crops required large areas of land, the plantations grew in size, and in turn, more labor was required to work on the plantations. Plantation labor shifted away from indentured servitude and more toward slavery by the late 1600s.

Detailed explanation-5: -Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture. Life on large plantations with a cruel overseer was oftentimes the worst.