Spain and Portugal's Domination of Slavery
The history of the European continent has been a turbulent one, and the period following the Dark Middle Ages is no exception. However, at the end of the 15th century, Europe would slowly regain its prosperity and development. Consequently, there would be a great desire for discoveries and territorial expansions. The geographical conquests lead to the establishment of the first colonial empires, Portugal and Spain. Despite their eventual demise, their colonial practices will give birth to slave trade which will become common practice throughout the next centuries and will deeply impact the social and economic realities of the time. The end of Hundred Years War, the reestablishment of the monarchic order, the reunification of the Spanish monarchy eventually leads to a certain political stability. 1 This offers the possibility to states on the Atlantic shores to take advantage of their geographical position and encourage, both politically and financially the exploration of new territories beyond the limits imposed by science. Thus, the improvements in navigation techniques offered the practical methods to encourage the expeditions. Consequently, the Portuguese Henry the Navigator "manages to convince his leader of the importance e
Still, "Portugal supplied slaves not only to its own Brazilian colonists but also to the Americas". Still, they were forced to respect them because of the excessive pressure of the British naval force which denied them free and smooth sailing in the waters of the oceans. Still the social structure of the society was greatly influenced by their assimilation. Portuguese settlers brought along the European spirit which molded the influences exercised by the black people brought as slaves from the African colonies of Angola or Mozambique. xpeditions out in the sea can have for the growth of the young state"2 Encouraged by the success of the Portuguese navigator, his fellow countrymen discover parts of Africa to Gabon and Angola by the end of the 15th century. For them, the business in itself was financially quite rewarding, seeing that, for instance, "Luanda, the capital of Angola, was a beautiful city at the expense of slave trade". The sugar industries in Brazil needed laborers and they were supplied by Angola. Nonetheless, both states relied greatly for their European development on the drastic exploitation of the colonial natural resources. It was one of the basic components of the emergence of capitalism as it contributed to the evolution of large scale production. The example of the Brazilian colony is relevant in pointing out the importance of slaves for the formation of the national culture and civilization of the state. 8 Slave trade soon became an European affair because of the increased need for production forces, considering the continuous development of the economic life throughout Europe. Therefore it soon found itself pray to the Dutch expansion strives. Thus "slavery was to become the engine for development; it was the broiling sun of the sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations of the New World"9. 6The two colonial powers had similar strategies of exploitation of their territories, through the mechanisms established by each; at the same time however, Portugal proved to be overwhelmed by the difficulties the management of such a vast territory would have for the administrative apparatus. On the one hand, it touches on the perspective of the ones actually dealing with slave trade.
Common topics in this essay:
World9 Slavery,
India Indian,
Spanish Portuguese,
Congress Vienna,
Catholic Church,
Brazil Spain,
Hundred War,
Angola Portuguese,
British Dutch,
Angola Mozambique,
slave trade,
portugal spain,
slave labor,
source slave labor,
sugar tobacco,
social structure,
geographical expeditions,
casa de,
american continent,
source slave,
sugar tobacco cotton,
16th century,
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