SETTLING NORTH AMERICA 1497 1732
RISE OF THE SLAVE TRADE BLACK HISTORY IN COLONIAL AMERICA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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By trading with African traders
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By capturing them from their villages
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By defeating them in battle
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By tricking them onto the boats
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Detailed explanation-1: -Africans could become slaves as punishment for a crime, as payment for a family debt, or most commonly of all, by being captured as prisoners of war. With the arrival of European and American ships offering trading goods in exchange for people, Africans had an added incentive to enslave each other, often by kidnapping.
Detailed explanation-2: -The liberated Africans reported two broad methods of enslavement; kidnapping and judicial proceedings. One of the informants said that he was sold by his relatives, but did not give reasons for the transaction. Kidnapping included not only victims of abduction and trickery but also prisoners of wars or raids.
Detailed explanation-3: -Ivory, gold and other trade resources attracted Europeans to West Africa. As demand for cheap labour to work on plantations in the Americas grew, people enslaved in West Africa became the most valuable ‘commodity’ for European traders. Slavery existed in Africa before Europeans arrived.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Portuguese, in the 16th century, were the first to buy slaves from West African slavers and transport them across the Atlantic. In 1526, they completed the first transatlantic slave voyage to Brazil, and other Europeans soon followed.