The Importance Of Slave Trade In Colonial America

2015 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The economic role of women in colonial society

Colonial America depended on their natural resources to provide the things they needed to live. Some parts of the colonies differed from others depending on their location, therefore they relied on trade to make up for what they may have been lacking. For instance England had poor soil, so to get food and crops they would trade with another region that prospered in farming. (Trade in the Colonies ) Slave trade was very useful for almost anyone who lived in the Colonies. They used the slaves for farming and gathering materials. There was a lot of open land in the Colonies due to the fact it was newly discovered. People came from many different countries for many reasons. Some came because they were poor and thought this would be a good opportunity …show more content…

Employment was booming and many who couldn’t find work in their mother countries could now support themselves and their ever growing families. Many different types of work and jobs formed in Colonial Times, mostly determined by climate and natural resources available for the particular department of work in the different regions of the first 13 colonies. The rich forest areas of Colonial America enabled Colonial workers to become employed in the associated timber and lumber activities. Great quantities of wood were required in the colonies and for trade exports. Pine, oak, maple, beech, birch, hickory, ash and cypress trees were all plentiful in Colonial America. ( Colonial Work) The coastline of the Northeast Atlantic coast gave rise to many opportunities for a fishing industries. The coastal waters gave rise to whaling. Whale oil was a valuable resource as it could be used in oil lamps and for making soaps. ( Colonial Work) Spermaceti was a white waxy substance produced by the sperm whale used in candles and ointments. As many more job opportunities began to form for the hard working men of the old worlds, many started to develop for the women who traveled alongside their husbands. Receiving more freedom than they had before in their mother countries, the women who lived on the farms engaged in colonial work and jobs such as cleaning ,cooking, growing vegetables, raising children, spinning yarn. ( Colonial Work ) These simple jobs gave women a greater purpose and meaning allowing for a push throughout the centuries to allow women to seek the same freedom and opportunities as men. New jobs and opportunities gave men and women a strong foothold in the new world to expand their horizons and explore more factors of life, to seek more and experiment with the little they had ,stretching each element to it’s limits and ring it of

Show More
Related

  • 13 Colonies Dbq

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, there were the Southern colonies. These colonies tried to remain true to their roots, the King of England. They made their money by growing cash crops on large plantations: tobacco, rice, and indigo. Colonists came to settle in the Southern colonies mainly to make money. Their social life was based on family status and the ownership of land. Large plantation owners controlled the government, as well as society. The people that lived here were

    Read More

  • Sugar Trade Dbq Essay

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    You would need a lot of slaves to work on the plantations. The British had a triangle of trade with Africa. They would go to Africa trade finished goods and bring them to the

    Read More

  • Essay On Trans-Atlantic Interactions

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    The trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves contributed to maintaining progression of labor systems as well as promoting change in the British North American colonies. The slaves provided labor and helped produce the cash crops that were then exported to Europe where they traded the goods to trade with Africans for more slaves. The Africans enslaved each other and sold more slaves to be sent to the colonies in

    Read More

  • Isbister Chapter Summary

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cotton, spices, silk, and tea from Asia mingled in European markets with ivory, gold, and palm oil from Africa; furs, fish, and timber from North America; and cotton, sugar, and tobacco from both North and South America. The lucra¬tive trade in enslaved human beings provided cheap labor where it was lacking. The profits accrued in Europe, increasingly in France and Britain as the Portuguese, Spanish, and then Dutch declined in relative power. It was a global network, made possible by the advancing tech¬nology of the colonialists.

    Read More

  • The History of Slavery in the United States

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.

    Read More

  • Abolish The Transatlantic Slave Trade

    1642 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Transatlantic Slave Trade started out as merchant trading of different materials for slaves. With obtaining a controllable form of labor being their main focus, the Europeans began to move to Africa and take over their land. The natives had to work on the newly stolen land to have a source of income to provide for their families.Soon others Europeans began to look for free labor by scouring the continent of Africa. Because Europeans were not familiar with the environment, Africans were employed to kidnap other Africans for the Transatlantic Slave Trade. After trade routes were established, different economies began to link together, and various items were exchanged across the world. As the Atlantic Slave Trade grew larger, problems began

    Read More

  • How Slavery Affected Colonial America

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery was a practice in many countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its effects in human history was unique to the United States. Many factors played a part in the existence of slavery in colonial America; the most noticeable was the effect that it had on the personal and financial growth of the people and the nation. Capitalism, individualism and racism were the utmost noticeable factors during this most controversial period in American history. Other factors, although less discussed throughout history, also contributed to the economic rise of early American economy, such as, plantationism and urbanization. Individually, these factors led to an enormous economic growth for the early American colonies, but collectively, it left a social gap that we are still trying to bridge today.

    Read More

  • Colonial Women and Her Changing Role

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    The colonial woman has often been imagined as a demure person, dressed in long skirt,apron and bonnet, toiling away at the spinning wheel, while tending to the stew at the hearth. In reality, the women of the early settlements of the United States were much more influential, strong and vital to the existence of the colonies. Her role,however, has shifted as the needs of the times dictated.

    Read More

  • Home Crafts In Colonial America

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    The community of the American Colonies in the 16th to 17th century shared ideas and ways of life with one another. “The colonist came from many countries—England, France, Holland, Germany, and Spain. They brought with them their different customs and skills” (Corwin 7). Together they learned to formulate and develop items. Home crafts are gender specific; typically women became the ones who wove, sewed, embroidered, and quilted; while the men cleared land, farmed, cut wood, butchered and hunted animals. In colonial America, home crafts became not just decoration or a hobby, but a thrifty use of leftover resources, a way of life, rebellion, and a huge role in women’s history.

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America Essay

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.

    Read More

  • Essay On Slave Trade

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of slavery in the America, Africans have been deemed inferior to the whites whom exploited the Atlantic slave trade. Africans were exported and shipped in droves to the Americas for the sole purpose of enriching the lives of other races with slave labor. These Africans were sold like livestock and forced into a life of servitude once they became the “property” of others. As the United States expanded westward, the desire to cultivate new land increased the need for more slaves. The treatment of slaves was dependent upon the region because different crops required differing needs for cultivation. Slaves in the Cotton South, concluded traveler Frederick Law Olmsted, worked “much harder and more unremittingly” than those in the tobacco regions.1 Since the birth of America and throughout its expansion, African Americans have been fighting an uphill battle to achieve freedom and some semblance of equality. While African Americans were confronted with their inferior status during the domestic slave trade, when performing their tasks, and even after they were set free, they still made great strides in their quest for equality during the nineteenth century.

    Read More

  • Triangular trade

    346 Words  | 1 Pages

    Slave and slave trade has been an important part of history for a very long time. In the years of the British thirteen colonies in North America, slaves and slave trade was a very important part of its development. It even carried on to almost 200 years of the United States history. The slave trade of the thirteen colonies was an important part of the colonies as well as Europe and Africa. In order to supply the thirteen colonies efficiently through trade, Europe developed the method of triangular trade.

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America

    1702 Words  | 4 Pages

    Slavery was created in pre-revolutionary America at the start of the seventeenth century. By the time of the Revolution, slavery had undergone drastic changes and was nothing at all what it was like when it was started. In fact the beginning of slavery did not even start with the enslavement of African Americans. Not only did the people who were enslaved change, but the treatment of slaves and the culture that each generation lived in, changed as well.

    Read More

  • the development of slavery in America

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.

    Read More

  • The Need For Slavery In The American Colonies

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Farming, sewing, and taking care of livestock were just a few responsibilities that were left to slaves during the 1600's. White families received all of the benefits from the work done, yet they rarely had to lift a finger, unless it was to correct a slave. Today's generation reads about slavery and regards it as morally wrong. While I agree that slavery was one of America's greatest wrongdoings, it paved the way for America as we know it today.

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Slave Trade In Colonial America

Open Document