Chapter Overview

The European quest for riches and expansion of empire in the fifteenth century was the catalyst for what we know today as the African slave trade. The European powers, beginning with Portugal, developed new sailing technology and established regular routes across the vast ocean as they successfully sought the coasts of Asia, Africa, and other exotic opportunities for extended trade. The Europeans quickly began long commercial relationships with all the peoples they encountered, but were particularly focused on the African continent, where in addition to the new sources of gold, foodstuffs, and spice, they found eager suppliers of slaves. Slaves would become the most important export of Africa to the New World that had been discovered through the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Based on the colossal labor potential of the African slaves, the European powers began to plan new empires on the other side of the world.

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you should understand the following:

• The European motivation for exploration of the New World and the labor demands that this required
• The constructs of the African slave trade and how it functioned
• The meaning of the "Middle Passage" and what effect this experience had on exported African slaves when finally in the New World
• The ramifications of the initial phase of European New World expansion in the Caribbean Sea, also known as the West Indies
• The European adaptation of slavery to the mainland of modern-day Latin America
• The causal reasons for the development of different slave societies in the Americas