1. The Start of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Coach Kuntz
United States History

2. The First Slaves in the Spanish Colonies
-The Spanish needed cheap labor to work on their plantations and in their mines. Native Americans were the convenient option: there were a lot of them and they had already been conquered by the Spanish.
-Due to disease and exploitation by the Spanish, the Native American population began to decline in the 16th century.
-Bartolome de las Casas, a Spanish priest, wrote to the king of Spain asking that the harsh treatment of Native Americans be brought to an end.
Was Bartolome de las Casas a hero?

3. I’ve made a huge mistake…
Bartolome de las Casas
-While Bartolome de las Casas did work to end slavery for Native Americans, he wasn’t perfect…
-He argued that Africans could be brought to Spanish colonies as another source of labor because he believed:
1. Africans were more immune to European diseases
2. Africans were more accustomed to hard farm work
-De las Casas may have contributed to the growth of the Atlantic slave trade.
I’ve made a huge mistake…

4. The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade
-August 18, 2018 marked the 500th Anniversary of the start of the Atlantic Slave Trade. -Prior to August 18, 1518, some African slaves were brought to the Americas from Europe, but there was no direct trade route from Africa to the Spanish colonies.

5. The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Cont.)
-On August 15, 1518, Charles I (the King of Spain) issued an order that allowed the transport of slaves directly from Africa to the Spanish colonies. This order allowed for the transport of African slave.
-Due to the (1) decline in Native American populations and (2) the increased need for labor, the African slave trade quickly grew.
-Over the next 370 years (1500 to 1870), over 10 million African slaves were transported to the Americas.

7. Recap of Main Points:
1. Why did the Spanish seek free labor for their colonies in the Americas? 2. Why did the Spanish colonies move away from Native American labor and change to African slaves? We’ll discuss the transatlantic slave trade even more during Chapter 4