Page 237 - The Dutch Caribbean Isles

hile the Portuguese were directly European nations built up economically
W involved in trading enslaved peoples,
the Spanish empire relied on the asiento
system, awarding merchants (mostly from
other countries) the license to trade en-
slaved people to their colonies.
D uring the first Atlantic system most of
these traders were Portuguese, giv-
ing them a near-monopoly during the era.
Some Dutch, English, and French traders
also participated in the slave trade. After
the union, Portugal came under Spanish
legislation that prohibited it from directly
engaging in the slave trade as a carrier. It
became a target for the traditional enemies
of Spain, losing a large share of the trade to total volume of the Atlantic slave trade.
the Dutch, English and French.
T he Second Atlantic system was the
trade of enslaved Africans by mostly
English, Portuguese, French and Dutch
traders. The main destinations of this phase
were the Caribbean colonies and Brazil, as
Africans replaced Native Americans as the
slave-dependent colonies in the New World. main population of enslaved people in the
Slightly more than 3% of the enslaved Americas. In some cases, such as on some
people exported from Africa were traded of the Caribbean Islands, diseases such as
between 1450 and 1600, and 16% in the smallpox and warfare eliminated the na-
17th century. It is estimated that more than tives completely.
half of the entire slave trade took place
during the 18th century, with the British, T he transatlantic slave trade resulted
Portuguese and French being the main in a vast and as yet still unknown loss
carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted of life for African captives both in and
from Africa. By the 1690s, the English were outside America. Approximately 1.2 – 2.4
shipping the most slaves from West Africa. million Africans died during their transport
They maintained this position during the to the New World. More died soon upon
18th century, becoming the biggest ship- their arrival. The number of lives lost in the
pers of slaves across the Atlantic. Following procurement of slaves remains a mystery
the British and United States’ bans on the but may equal or exceed the number who
African slave trade in 1808, it declined, but survived to be enslaved. The savage nature
the period still accounted for 28.5% of the of the trade led to the destruction of indi-
viduals and cultures. The following figures
do not include deaths of enslaved Africans
E uropean colonists initially practiced as a result of their labour, slave revolts, or
systems of both bonded labour and In- diseases suffered while living among New
dian slavery, enslaving many of the natives World populations.
of the New World. For a variety of reasons,