HISTORY NOTES
Topic: Slavery
What is Slavery?
Slavery is the brutal practice of forcing someone to do hard labour without any payment. Unfair
wage, sometimes without paying them at all; slaves are held captive and are unable to pursue
their own lives.
AFRICAN SLAVERY
African Slavery was introduced after the Encomienda System failed. The Europeans were the
main culprits who developed the slave trade mainly the Spaniards, Portuguese and Dutch. In the
British, French and Dutch Caribbean, slavery was basically tied to the cultivation of sugar and
the economic organization of the plantation. Slavery was also called a total institution as it
determined the lives of the African people, as well as the economic arrangement of the
plantation they controlled.
Slavery shaped the lives of Africans as it was an attempt to dehumanized the race of Africa.
Africans were regarded as property (land and building). Dehumanization happens by
suppressing and taking away culture ties which helps to form a persons identity. Identity lost
can happen through:
1. Being forcefully taken from tribal groups
2. Changing the names of African to European names
3. Their social and family life was discouraged
4. Forbidding the practice of their religion, custom and tradition
5. Meeting of hard physical punishment, torture and even death
Plantation
Plantation relied on the cheap slave labour in large amounts. Plantation is known as the division
of land into small units under private ownership. It is the longest existing system in the history
of the Caribbean. Sugar and Tobacco were the main grown crops in the Caribbean.
A typical plantation in the Americas, had living quarters for the labourers that was equipped
with garden plots known as provision groups for growing foods. During Slavery, labourers
received meals and yearly clothes allowances.
Triangular Trade
The Triangular trade are the routes amongst Africa, Europe and the Americas during the Atlantic
Slave Trade. The trade began in Africa, where the Africans were captured and forced away from
their families to go on ships which would carry them across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
Topic: Slavery
What is Slavery?
Slavery is the brutal practice of forcing someone to do hard labour without any payment. Unfair
wage, sometimes without paying them at all; slaves are held captive and are unable to pursue
their own lives.
AFRICAN SLAVERY
African Slavery was introduced after the Encomienda System failed. The Europeans were the
main culprits who developed the slave trade mainly the Spaniards, Portuguese and Dutch. In the
British, French and Dutch Caribbean, slavery was basically tied to the cultivation of sugar and
the economic organization of the plantation. Slavery was also called a total institution as it
determined the lives of the African people, as well as the economic arrangement of the
plantation they controlled.
Slavery shaped the lives of Africans as it was an attempt to dehumanized the race of Africa.
Africans were regarded as property (land and building). Dehumanization happens by
suppressing and taking away culture ties which helps to form a persons identity. Identity lost
can happen through:
1. Being forcefully taken from tribal groups
2. Changing the names of African to European names
3. Their social and family life was discouraged
4. Forbidding the practice of their religion, custom and tradition
5. Meeting of hard physical punishment, torture and even death
Plantation
Plantation relied on the cheap slave labour in large amounts. Plantation is known as the division
of land into small units under private ownership. It is the longest existing system in the history
of the Caribbean. Sugar and Tobacco were the main grown crops in the Caribbean.
A typical plantation in the Americas, had living quarters for the labourers that was equipped
with garden plots known as provision groups for growing foods. During Slavery, labourers
received meals and yearly clothes allowances.
Triangular Trade
The Triangular trade are the routes amongst Africa, Europe and the Americas during the Atlantic
Slave Trade. The trade began in Africa, where the Africans were captured and forced away from
their families to go on ships which would carry them across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
