During this era there was much development in the world of slavery. It first started when the Portugese started importing slaves from Africa. The Africans were treated as slaves mainly because of their skin color. England was the first country to bring slavery over to North America. It was a very large economical and social factor in the New World. Since there was so much open land in the New World, the development of plantations were based on slave labor . Since so many slaves were needed, a ton of slave trade between England, Africa, and the New World took place. Spain and Portugal thought they had an even better idea, and they were the first to use Native Americans as slaves. They did not know, however, that the Native Americans were extremely susceptible to diseases. Once nearly all the Native Americans died, Portugal and Spain also started trading for slaves from Africa.
             Though the Spanish and English had many similar ways in using Africans, they also had quite a few different methods. The Spanish treated their slaves better than the English mainly by giving them a lot of cultural freedom. The Spanish also got more out of their slaves because of the warm weather. They produced a lot more sugar, and had very long growing seasons to do it in. The church in Spanish colonies also tried to give them at least some protection. (Though they offered even more to the Native Americans.) In England slaves were treated much more harshely. Not only were slaves put to grueling work, they were even traded back and forth for products like guns and sugar. Slaves in England were mainly forced to be Protestant, and harsh punishments were always allowed. Most slave owners greatly feared revolts, so they never let slaves get away with thinking they had any rights.
             France was less involved in the slave trade than the others for several obvious reasons. They were in a large war with Spain, Austria, and Britain over the Austr...