Triangular Trade Dbq

Between the years of 1600 and 1763, the labor systems were transformed to compliment the demand of much needed labor. While the demand for labor stayed consistent throughout Triangular Trade, those who were cursed to endure the burden of labor went through compositional changes. Although slavery has always been seen as a European avocation, the Portuguese actually started the profitable occupation. However, the English quickly replaced the Portuguese as the dominators of the epidemic. The subtle emergence of racism also played a part in the evolving of the labor systems.
The slave trade was kicked off by Portuguese merchants who had begun to enslave Muslims and Africans. The first shipment of slaves were recorded to have arrived in Lisbon

in 1411. The first African slaves were sent to work on a sugar plantation on a Portuguese island colony.
Once word of slavery reached North America, it took nearly two hundred years before it became a necessity in the British colonies. The labor system of indentured servants and of enslaved Native Americans was sufficient. As tobacco became a large staple in the south, replacement for the indentured servants who were giving way to their working conditions was sought after quickly. The colonists realized the abundance of African slaves and how their cheap labor would positively affect the economy. Therefore, the Atlantic Slave Trade was born.
The mindset of the colonists declared it was against God’s will to enslave those belonging to the Christian religion. Even if the slaves converted to Christianity, they were still condemned to lifelong enslavement due to their skin color. In the motherland, the color of “black” symbolized evilness or foulness. It was easy for the colonists to enslave the Africans because they simply distained the color of the slaves’ skin.
Although slavery remained the same in terms of labor and living conditions, it changed in terms of who was the laboring class. Slavery transformed from the enslavement of the Native Americans, to the indentured servitude of the poorest of the English, to the Africans enduring the back-breaking work of working on the plantations. Its modern thinking that slavery completed ended in 1865 but in Germany slaves were used for the production of the V2 rocket which made its debut in World War II.