Historical Analysis of "12 Years a Slave": The Evolution of Slavery The Origins of Slavery in America
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Slavery has been a big issue since the beginning of civilization. Its traced all the way back to when Europeans first settled in America. The first affected by Slavery were the Native Americans. They were the first victims of Slavery because they were seen as minorities. Spaniards captured many of them to take them back to their home. According to the book, Columbus promised the Spanish crown gold and slaves. Columbus stated, “With fifty men, they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them.” Many slaves suffered because they were exposed to a new environment and new diseases.
During the 1500s, Slavery was increasing throughout the world. Around 1503, a man named Juan del ponce raided Florida for slave raids. Around 1598, another man named Juan de Oñate led four hundred settlers, soldiers, and missionaries from Mexico into New Mexico. There, he had ordered to cut off a foot of every single male over the age of fifteen, and he enslaved the remaining women and children. There were many Indian slaves who would kill themselves because they could not resist harsh lives as slaves. Those who would be competent with the life of Slavery would not marry because they refused to bring in children only to have them enslaved in the future.
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A Historical Analysis of "12 Years a Slave": The Evolution of Slavery
African Slavery and Its Expansion
The most common Slavery we know with African Americans began when the Dutch advanced the slave trade and brought African slaves with them to the New World. Slavery was an essential part of Dutch capitalist triumphs. There were companies that would capture slaves and sell them to rich white people or were forced to work on big projects. For example, slaves in 1926 were assigned to build New Amsterdam, also currently known as New York City. They were also tasked to build a defensive wall that Is known as the modern-day Wall Street. During the early 17th Century, African Slavery was very common.
Some slaves sued for back wages and won. Many other company-owned slaves fought for the colony against the Munsee Indians and also won. Although they didn’t win their whole freedom, they had” half freedom.” Not many were as lucky as this slave; the Dutch slaves suffered terribly. According to the book, the Dutch came to exist alongside increasingly brutal systems of Slavery. Brazil wasn’t left behind in the slave trade. Over the entire history of the Atlantic slave trade, more Africans were enslaved in Brazil than in any other colony in the Atlantic World. Slave trading made sugar brought in more money than any other commodity.
The Rise and Impact of Slavery in the South
Slaves grew more and more until they finally reached the South. In 1619, a Dutch slave ship sold twenty Africans to the Virginia colonists, and that started Slavery. Africans were even chained until they reached their destinations, like Jamestown. African Americans were not only physically abused, but they were also mentally abused. They were denied humanity and were treated as a whole separate race. They thought that “blackness” was a sin. They even brought religious beliefs with them. They believed that god had punished black people. They preached that in the Old Testament, God cursed Ham, the son of Noah, and doomed black people to perpetual enslavement. Slavery was booming, and the economy grew increasingly dependent on slave labor.
Dissent and Opposition to Slavery
Not everyone agreed on Slavery. In 1706, Reverend Francis Le Jau quickly grew disillusioned by the horrors of American Slavery. He met with slaves who were ravaged by the Middle Passage. Ministers also felt bad for slaves. They would Baptize and educate slaves but frightened the masters. Alexander Falconbridge, a slave ship surgeon, described the sufferings of slaves from shipboard infections and close quarters in the hold. Historians estimate that between 24,000 and 51,000 Native Americans were forced into Slavery. Native American slaves died quickly, mostly from disease, but others were murdered or died from starvation. Slave ships transported 11–12 million Africans to destinations in North and South America. Slavery was expanding, and there was no stopping it. Beginning in the 1440s, ship captains carried
African slaves to Portugal. Charleston, South Carolina, became the leading entry point for the slave trade on the mainland.
As a proportion of the enslaved population, there were more enslaved women in North America than in other colonial slave populations. Slavery was blackening people’s life. Slave owners didn’t care at all for this “race” They even passed last, stating that the slave’s children would get passed on the mother&rsqu