WHOLE TRUTH.... of SLAVERY in the Americas #3

WE  CAME  LAST  TIME  TO  THE  ARRIVAL  OF  SLAVES  TO  PORTUGAL.

CONTINUING  WITH  THE  LECTURE:

GOMES  EANNES  de  ZURARA,  THESE  ARE  HIS  WORDS:

"A  MARVELOUS  SIGHT  AND  SOME  AMONGST  THEM  WHITE  ENOUGH,  FAIR  ENOUGH  AND  WELL  PROPORTIONED,  OTHERS  WERE  LESS  WHITE ...  OTHERS  AGAIN  SO  BLACK  LIKE  ETHIOPIANS,  AND  SO  UGLY  IN  FEATURES  AND  BODY  AS  TO  ALMOST  APPEAR  AS  IMAGES  OF  THE  LOWER  HEMISPHERE.  WHAT  HEART  COULD  BE  SO  HARD  NOT  TO  BE  PIERCED  WITH  THE  PITIST  FEELING  TO  SEE THAT  COMPANY,  FOR  SOME  KEPT  THEIR  HEADS  LOW,  AND  THEIR  FACES  BATHED  IN  TEARS,  LOOKING  UPON  ONE  ANOTHER;  OTHERS  STOOD  GROANING  VERY  GRIEVOUSLY,  LOOKING  UP  TO  THE  HEIGHT  OF  HEAVEN,  FIXING  THEIR  EYES  ON  AND  CRYING  OUT  LOUDLY  AS  IF  ASKING  HELP  FROM  THE  FATHER  OF  NATURE.  OTHERS  STRUCK  THEIR  FACES  WITH  THE  PALMS  OF  THEIR  HANDS,  THROWING  THEMSELVES  FULL  LENGTH  ON  THE  GROUND,  WHILE  OTHERS  MADE  LAMENTATIONS  IN  THE  MANNER  OF  A  DIRGE,  AFTER  THE  CUSTOM  OF  THEIR  COUNTRY."

46  OF  THESE  SLAVES  WERE  HANDED  OVER  TO  PRINCE  HENRY,  WHO  WAS  STANDING  NEARBY,  WATCHING  THE  UNLOADING  OF  THE  SHIP.

WITH  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  AMERICAS  IN  THE  1490s,  AFRICAN  SLAVES  BEGIN  TO  CROSS  THE  ATLANTIC. 

FOR  ABOUT  20  YEARS  FERNANDO  AND  ISABEL  DEBATE  WHETHER  TO  ALLOW  THESE  SHIPMENTS  OF  SLAVES  INTO  THE  NEW  AMERICAS.  ONLY  IN  1510  DOES  FERNANDO  BEGIN  TO  AUTHORIZE  SLAVE  SHIPMENTS,  TO  BE  REGULATED  BY  THE  CROWN,  INTO  THE  CARIBBEAN.

THIS  IS  THE  TRUE  BEGINNING  INTO  THE  TRANS-ATLANTIC  SLAVE  TRADE.

BUT  IT  WAS  THE  RISE  OF  SUGAR  PLANTATIONS,  FIRST  IN  BRAZIL,  IN  THE  1560s  AND  1570s  THAT  IS  THE  TRUE  ENGINE  THAT  MOVES  THE  SLAVE  TRADE  TO  ITS  HIGHEST  LEVEL.

BLACK  SLAVES  AND  FREE BLACKS  ARE  EVERYWHERE  IN  THE  AMERICAS.  SLAVES  IN  CUBA  BY  1511.  A  BLACK  SLAVE  WAS  WITH  BABOWA  WHEN  HE  SAW  THE  PACIFIC.  A  FREE  BLACK  IS  AT  THE  SIDE  OF  CORTEZ  IN  THE  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO.

PROBABLY  ABOUT  100,000  AFRICANS  WERE  BROUGHT  ACROSS  TO  SPANISH  AMERICA  AS  SLAVES  IN  THE  PERIOD  BEFORE  1575.

IT  IS  NOT  UNTIL  ABOUT  1550  THE  TRADE  OF  AFRICANS  TO  THE  AMERICAS  SURPASSES  THAT  TRADE  BACK  TO  EUROPE,  AND  PARTICULAR  BACK  TO  PORTUGAL.  

BUT  THE  RISE  OF  THE  SUGAR  PLANTATIONS  IN  BRAZIL  IN  THE  LATE  16TH  CENTURY  AND  THE  CARIBBEAN  IN  THE  1600s,  THAT  THE  TRADE  ACCELERATES   DRAMATICALLY.  THERE  IS  A  RISING  CURVE  OF  IMPORTS  IN  THE  16TH  CENTURY.

IN  THE  1650s  THE  DUTCH  AND  THE  ENGLISH  HAVE  COPIED  THE  BRAZILIANS  AND  BUILT  SUGAR  PLANTATIONS  ACROSS  THE  CARIBBEAN  BASIN,  AND  THE  DEMANDS  FOR  SLAVE  LABOR  ACCELERATES.

NEARLY  2/3  OF  ALL  THE  SLAVES  WHO  COME  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC,  CROSS  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.  THE  REASON  FOR  THIS  IS  VERY  SIMPLE.  IT'S  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY  THAT  EVERY  PLANTATION  SOCIETY  IN  THE  AMERICAS  IS  IN  FULL  SWING.  BRAZIL,  THE  CARIBBEAN,  AND  WHAT  BECOMES  THE  USA  SOUTH,  ALL  ARE  OPERATING  AT  FULL  TILT.  AND  IN  BRAZIL  I  SHOULD  ADD,  IT'S  NOT  ONLY  THE  SUGAR  PLANTATIONS,  BUT  THE  GOLD  MINES,  WITH  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD  IN  THE  1700s  IN  BRAZIL,  THAT  RISES  THE  DEMAND  FOR  AFRICAN  SLAVE  LABOR.

ALTHOUGH  ALL  OF  THE  SEA  POWERS  ARE  INVOLVED  WITH  CARRYING  THE  SLAVE  TRADE  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY,  IT  IS  THE  ENGLISH  WHO  CARRY  THE  MAJORITY  OF  THE  TRAFFIC,  SUPPLYING  THEIR  OWN  COLONIES  AS  WELL  AS  THOSE  OF  THE  OTHER  EUROPEAN  POWERS.

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TO  BE  CONTINUED