9781422274231

This illustration from 1595 shows African slaves processing sugarcane on a Caribbean plantation. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the Spanish imported millions of slaves from West Africa to work in their colonies in Florida, the Caribbean islands, Mexico, and South America.

Its founder, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, brought slaves with him when he arrived in 1565. The settlement would become an important destination for slave ships that were headed to other Spanish colonies in the region. Spain was not the only country interested in establishing colonies in North America. European countries like France, England, and the Netherlands sought a share of the New World’s wealth for themselves. In 1606, King James I of England granted a

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THE SLAVE TRADE IN COLONIAL AMERICA