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Roles of Africans in the Exploitation of the Americas

Slavery has been a key facet in the development of almost every major civilization since history has been recorded. Though it has not necessarily conformed to today’s views of what slavery is, it was around in various forms during the empires of antiquity, and throughout each century since. With the discovery of the New World in the fifteenth century came the needed manpower to facilitate the economies of these newly formed European colonies. For many reasons, this burden fell upon Africans. Slavery, however, is certainly not the only role played by Africans in the exploitation of the Americas. In researching this topic in both readings and from lectures, it is evident that the role of Africans can be broken down into four sections: slavery being the obvious primary role, followed by three secondary roles. These are as auxiliary slaves, black conquistadors, and the integral role played by Africans in the colonial wars of the period. Each of the four will be discussed separately, and also in an interrelated fashion.

When it became evident that the imperial powers in the New World needed manpower to work on their plantations, Africa was not the first place Europeans looked. The initial choice was to simply enslave the currently existing natives and put them to work. It was quickly found that slaves would have to come from elsewhere. Native Amerindians were highly susceptible to European diseases, especially smallpox. Between these diseases and casualties resulting from the conquests necessary for their suppression, soon there were not enough natives to sustain efficient running of the plantations. Depopulation amongst natives was so rapid that “seventy five percent were gone within one hundred fifty years of the European invasion” (Dyreson).

The first attempt at an alternative was to use white Europeans. These were often the destitute of society, including convicts and the poor. The manpower problem still remained unsolved, however, when Europeans quickly found that their own kind could not withstand the hot, sticky climate of South America and the Caribbean. The imperial powers of Europe hit a goldmine of labor force when they began to export Africans into the newly formed colonies. “Africans proved to be admirable workers, strong enough to survive the heat and hard work on sugar, coffee, or cotton plantations or in mines, in building fortresses or merely acting as servants; and, at the same time, they were good-natured and usually docile” (Thomas). And what further strengthened the slave trade was the willingness of the strong, Muslim West African kingdoms to capture and sell the much weaker West-Central Africans to the Europeans. Without having to worry about capturing their own slaves, Europeans could now concentrate all their efforts on the growth and prosperity of their American colonies. This is exemplified in the fact that “Europeans didn’t colonize Africa until before the nineteenth century, or participate in the internal slave trade; only two to three percent of slaves were captured by Europeans” (Frederick).

What became known as the “Middle Passage,” or the slave route taken by ships passing between Africa and the Americas, was a treacherous journey to say the least. Newly enslaved Africans were subjected to some of the most inhuman conditions possible while aboard the ships. Many died as a result. The estimated twelve million that survived the journey were sent off all throughout the New World. While many were sent to work on British (and later American) plantations in Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas, these slaves were but a small minority of the African slave population. “Brazil alone took thirty eight percent of the slaves, the Caribbean Islands forty percent. Saint Domingue (the French name for Española) received twice as many African slaves as the thirteen colonies and later the United States” (Crosby). Once they had arrived at their final destinations, most slaves were put to work in the fields or in mines. “Most of the great enterprises of the first four hundred years of colonization owed much to African slaves: sugar in Brazil and later the Caribbean; rice and indigo in South Carolina and Virginia; gold in Brazil and, to a lesser extent, silver in Mexico; cotton in the Guianas and later in North America; cocoa in what is now Venezuela; and above all, in clearing of land ready for agriculture” (Thomas). The only thing Mr. Thomas seems to have left out in his breakdown of the African slaves’ contribution is an important one: tobacco, which would weigh heavily on both the European and world markets and later play a major role in the United States Civil War.

Although slavery was the primary role of Africans of the time period, it was not the only role. Spaniards were the first to bring slaves to the Americas. They “ran few plantations compared to other European colonies, so most Spanish American slaves were auxiliaries in skilled intensive, or permanent tasks” (Frederick). These auxiliary slaves certainly do not fit the popular billing of what slaves were. They were not treated in the same way, nor did they necessarily perform the same tasks as traditional slaves of the British colonies. For this reason, a distinction is made and a second role of Africans in the Americas is formed. Culturally speaking, these auxiliary slaves were much different from the West Central Africans who were plucked from their villages and sold into bondage. Many of them had already been acculturated to European ways. They were “more likely to be already Christian. Many were ‘Hispanized’ and could even be from Europe.” Unlike the non-auxiliary slaves, “most were urban slaves; by 1750, ten to twenty five percent of the population in Spanish cities were black” (Frederick). Due to these cultural differences from the stereotypical Africans, Spanish auxiliary slaves were able to enjoy a greater sense of freedom than did their counterparts. For instance, “they formed their own religious brotherhoods, guilds, and social organizations.” There were even some rural African communities” in the colonies (Frederick).

Along with the cultural differences of auxiliary slaves came differences in terms of how they were treated as it pertained to the law. Spanish law stated that a slave must be allowed to set a fair price for his own freedom. A slave could go to his owner and bargain for his freedom. In essence, the agreed-upon amount between a slave and owner would be the amount owed to the owner for the slave to buy himself. The existence of this Spanish law made room for a third role of Africans in the Americas: the black conquistador. Many auxiliaries gained “probanzas” from their masters; literally Spanish for “proofs.” These were papers proving that the person holding them were not runaway slaves, but in fact still owned by the issuer. They were given out so that the auxiliaries could safely go out and serve as soldiers in the conquests.

Being a conquistador was risky business. They were thrust into many dangerous situations conquering lands and peoples in the name of the Crown. For black slaves and free whites alike, the opportunity to get rich was attractive enough to place their lives on the line. So, in this way, black conquistadors were able to buy their freedom. “Under the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, at least, the descendants of free Blacks enjoyed equality with Whites before the law” (Fernández-Armesto). Though it is not popular to hear of black conquistadors buying their freedom and making a name for themselves, there were at least a few noteworthy examples. “Juan Valiente was a black conquistador who bought his freedom and gained an encomienda”, which was a land grant given from the Spanish crown for fighting and increasing Spanish territories to start a plantation (Frederick). He moved to Chile in 1540 after receiving it. Juan Garrido was another noteworthy conquistador. “This conquistador-companion of (Hernando) Cortés had seen Tenochtitlán submit, made an expedition to California, and was custodian for his fellow-citizens of the aqueduct of Chapultepec which supplied Mexico City with water (Fernández-Armesto). It was great men like these who inspired many slaves to become conquistadors in an attempt to buy their own freedom.

The fourth and final role played by Africans was the colonial wars of the Americas they took part in. Aside from the black conquistadors who had fought natives in the name of the imperial powers that owned them, many Africans played major roles in colonial wars against other imperial powers as well as in colonial uprisings and revolutions against their own mother country. Many served, for instance, in “Brazil’s War of Divine Liberty against Dutch invaders from 1644 to 1654” (Fernández-Armesto). In addition, the revolutions and upheavals they took part in changed the face of the colonial Americas.

The Haitian Revolution represents the most thorough case study of revolutionary change anywhere in the history of the modern world. In ten years of sustained internal and international warfare, a colony populated predominantly by plantation slaves overthrew both its colonial status and its economic system and established a new political state of entirely free individuals – with some ex-slaves constituting the new political authority. The impact of the Haitian Revolution was both immediate and widespread (Knight).
The impact was so widespread that an argument can be made that the Haitian Revolution sparked the beginning of the end for all imperial powers in the New World.

There can be no qualms as to the importance of the roles Africans played in the Americas. There is ample proof that they were not simply slaves, but auxiliary skilled servants, conquistadors, and soldiers at war. At the dawn of the colonial era, history saw European imperial powers taking shape and forming new ties on a global scale. “However strong the pioneer spirit in the metropolitan bases of early-modern empires, the home countries were insufficiently well populated to supply the labour needs of their colonies themselves.” As a result, “slaves became essential to the sustaining of colonial enterprise…” (Fernández-Armesto). Even though this is an extremely pertinent quote, instead it should read “Africans became essential,” for their various roles played in the exploitation of the Americas shaped the western hemisphere, culture, and history as we know it.


Works Cited

1. Frederick, Jake. History 11 lectures. Penn State University. February 27, 2002 and March 11, 2002.
2. Dyreson, JoDee. History 2 lecture. Penn State University. January 10, 2002.
3. Thomas, Hugh. “The Transatlantic Slave Trade.” The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire. Ed. Thomas Benjamin, Timothy Hall, David Rutherford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2001. 146-48.
4. Crosby, Alfred W. “Infectious Disease and the Demography of the Atlantic Peoples.” The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire. Ed. Thomas Benjamin, Timothy Hall, David Rutherford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2001. 174-74.
5. Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. “Africans, the Involuntary Colonists.” The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire. Ed. Thomas Benjamin, Timothy Hall, David Rutherford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2001. 185, 190.
6. Knight, Franklin W. “The Haitian Revolution.” The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire. Ed. Thomas Benjamin, Timothy Hall, David Rutherford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2001. 227, 233.