ironworking, cattle raising, and other useful work. Another plus was the mortality differential. Although many Africans died in the horrible trip on the slave ships or during the first years after arriving in Latin America, those who survived this adaptation period were far less apt to die from the Old World diseases than the Indians.2 As a result, the advantages of relying on Africans eventually outweighed the high costs of transportation.
             Slavery brought millions of Africans to Latin America, but numbers vary considerably due to the destruction of importation records in Brazil soon after the abolition of slavery and creation of the republic in 1889. The great majority of slaves went to Brazil and Cuba, the last countries to abolish slavery as a system. It is estimated that 1.7 million slaves were imported into Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico between 1761 and 1860. In Mexico, Central America, and the Andean nations, the numbers were much lower than in other areas of Latin America, because of the number of local workers.3
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