Chapter 1 question 4

4. Slavery in Africa was never as brutal as slavery in the Americas. Slavery was part of the African culture long before europeans came. Slavery was regconized by the African law and created certain for slave. Slaves in Africa were usually captives from a battle between different communities. In Africa there is a low population density so slaves were used to develop the land. Slavery in Africa had no racial aspect its only purpose was service. There was three stages of enslavement. In the beginning slaves worked under supervision. In the second stage they became allotment slaves, which ment that they only worked 5-6 days on the masters land and then for the rest of the day they worked on their own plots. In the third stage the slaves worked on their land in exchange for food. In Africa, slavery was just a form of work of servitude there was harsh treatment towards slave like in the americas. As the expansion of the new world increased the communites and states being formed lacked one main resource, which was a work force and slavery was the answer to this resource. At first, the Europeans enslaved the native american but soon the natives were dieing of dieases. So, the importation of slaves from Africa began. The Portuguese established small posts along the coast. From there, the traders would buy slaves from local ruler and send overseas to the New World.