Question #cac72
1 Answer
The first colony that received slaves from Africa was Virginia. The slaves provided manual labor that the local tribal people and indentured servants were not providing.
Explanation:
The colony of Virginia needed workers to grow tobacco on the plantations to export for cash. The fields were to large for a single land owner to cultivate.
The hot humid climate of Virginia made working difficult for Europeans. The Indentured servants were legal slaves for 7 years. However at the end of the 7 years the Indentured servants were expected to receive land of their own an expense to the owners. Also many indentured servants ran away and blended with the general population before fulfilling the full 7 years.
The black slaves from Africa meet the need for manual labor.
The Africans were adapted to working in a hot humid climate.
The Black Africans could not run away and blend into the general population. Sadly the Africans were not set free after 7 years as dictated by the Old Testament rules on slavery. Not only did the owners not have to provide the slaves with land, the children of the slaves became slaves enriching the owners.
Black African slaves provided low cost manual labor. The Black African slaves did not run away, get sick in the hot humid climate, or provide a cost latter on to the owners.
