why did we have slavery?

Question

its for my school poject. i need hlep

Answer 1

To no surprise, the millions kidnapped and pressed into slavery were a result of European and christian greed. What is a surprise is that it was west African kings who first offered to sell slaves to the Portuguese.

The link below is to New Internationalist magazine issue #196. The content can also be purchase in a book, "The No Nonsense Guide To World History". It's the weekend, so go buy it.

If you don't buy the book and use the website as a source, look for the book on Amazon or another book company for the bibliographic information.

From the website, in the section "The Hidden Continent":
----------------------------------
1460 - Descent into slavery

For 30 years the Portuguese sailed home with ships full of gold and the African rulers were just as happy with the cottons, woollens and brass that they received in exchange. And from the beginning the Portuguese were allowed to take small numbers of slaves, since slavery was a normal part of the African disciplinary code - the normal punishment for crime was enslavement, so African states had a supply of such ‘disposable’ people they were quite happy to pass on to the Portuguese. By the 1460s about 700 black slaves were being carried back each year to Europe where they became very fashionable as domestic servants.

This might give the impression that slavery was an African tradition foreign to Europeans. In fact slavery had been a part of the European business scene for centuries before the Portuguese touched the Gold Coast. Christian raiders kidnapped non-Christians from Eastern Europe and sold them as slaves to the Franks; the Franks often sold them on to Muslim princes in North Africa. Much of the prosperity of the great merchant cities of Venice and Genoa - and hence some of the money that fuelled the Renaissance - was built on the slave trade. Indeed the very word ‘slave’ derives from the Slavic people who were the main European victims of the trade at this time. On Mediterranean islands such as Cyprus, the old Roman tradition of plantation agriculture had been revived, with slave labour providing sugar for the European market.

1525 - A trickle becomes a flood

The slave trade began to get out of control in Africa in the latter half of the fifteenth century when the Portuguese set up sugar plantations with slave labour on Atlantic islands such as São Tome. The African rulers could not supply anywhere near enough criminals for this so mass kidnapping raids began. The King of Kongo, accustomed to more polite relations, begged his counterpart in Portugal in 1525 to stop the raids ‘because it is our will that in these kingdoms there should not be any trade in slaves or outlet for them’. He was ignored.

Answer 2

Our country was like the rest of the world at that time. The wealthier Americans had huge plantations where they raised crops and cotton. This required a lot of labor.

Slavery had existed since the beginning of civilization. England ended the use of black slaves only 40 yrs prior to the US civil war. Africans and Arabs captured less organized tribes of Africans and sold them to Europeans and Arab countries.

Our founding father's were slave owners even though they did not particularly admire the practice. Google George Washington's will and Jefferson's writings about slavery and you will see that they cared deeply about the human's they owned.

It's hard to imagine that good people could practice something that is considered evil today, but many did. Also slavery still exisits - in Africa.

Answer 3

Yes, there was White slavery. The British used the Irish as slaves up until the 1920s in the coal mines in Britain (often children). Today there are modern day White slaves from Eastern Europe who are trafficked into brothels in the US and Canada and Western Europe (including children). In the past, many indentured servants (brought to places like Georgia chained to boats) were Irish. 95% of them died in slavery. You'll need to do your own research. Use your textbook, legitimate websites, a library book, and ask your librarian for any old documents they may have. You can also email an international relations professor (for ex: google in "Purdue University" then click "international relations" and find the professor's email) about modern day slavery. You can compare and contrast what you find, and make sure to cite your sources and do a bibliography at the end. Also, see if you can find any DVDs from PBS or the History Channel. Finally, "orphan" British children after WWI and WWII were sent to Australia as "domestic servants"

Answer 4

Slavery,as i know of it,were back to the roman days.Egypt, and Moses who freed them through Gods help. If it went back further,i do not know of it,unless through Vikings somehow. So it has not started with black men.
Through greedy people is why there is slavery. A way for people to get rich faster,not carring about others. Since,it has been revived to giving people a few peanuts to try and keep up with the world to live on. Taxes are still high all over. The only difference is robbing Peter,of which is us,to pay Paul now. Just ask the states about it.
So it all depends on how you look at slavery,and how hard they push you for those peanuts these days.
If you like the way things are run these days,vote for them again!

Answer 5

In the first place, almost every major culture has engaged in some form of "slavery" at one time or another. This does not justify the practice by any means, but it is foolish to ignore the fact that almost every people group on the planet bears this guilt somewhere in their ancestry.

Secondly, the discussion is a complex one ... if you *REALLY* want to get at some deep thinking on the issue, then you would do well to narrow your parameters before starting.

Do you want to understand the economic factors involved in the use of slavery?

Do you want to restrict the discussion to moral/ethical/philosophical questions?

Do you want to explore the relative differences between the reasons for slavery in ancient cultures versus more recent ones?

Although I am guessing, I presume since you are doing a school project that the context is more historical/political/economic, and also that by "we" you refer to the United States prior to the abolition of slavery in the 1860's.

If those assumptions are correct, you should research the use of slavery in both the European and African continents, particularly the rise of the slave trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. You will also want to research the economic development of the American colonies, particularly the differences between the industrial north and agrarian south.

The funny thing about truth is that it generally takes some persistence and effort in order to really grab hold of a piece!

Good luck!

Answer 6

We had and to some degree still do have slavery in America and around the world. Initially slavery was instituted in America because Europeans were lazy. Also they were fearful of the unknown. Africa was not the "dark continent". It did not need to be discovered or civilized. In fact Africa was light years ahead of Europe when it came to science, math, general knowledge and higher learning. Research the universities of Africa before the Europeans arrived. Greek history (which is where Europeans believe history started) is actually what was stolen from Africa. This is a fact if you know history. Africa had and still has more riches than any other place on the planet. Naturally if you are afraid and ignorant, which breeds hate and contempt you will react to situations in a violent manner rather than looking to gain knowledge and acceptance. Slavery was the result of hatred, greed and ignorance. Prejudice in all its forms that exist today stem from ignorance, greed and hatred. When war or violence is waged in the name of religion, it is not based on religion or some deep seated faith, it is hatred and ignorance and greed. Not a mystery.

Answer 7

Becuz a long LONG time ago in America in the south the people who had plantations needed workers. So they sailed 2 Africa and wanted 2 get slaves. So some of the black people wanted 2 help the white people and betrayed their own people by tricking them into following them towards the ships the blacks who were captured by other blacks and white people were chained and sent 2 America on big ships. There they had auctions 2 sell the people 2 other plantation owners. Thats how slavery started.
I think it was a awful thing. And that its wrong 2 "own" people.

Answer 8

The short answer is there were a number of people that were too lazy to do the hard work required to maintain the large plantations.
Another answer is that slavery was/is acceptable; slavery was all about economics. How can you get a lot of work done cheaply without regulations or scruples for the worker?.

Answer 9

Slavery was common in the world at that time. There were no machines to do hard work, so it all had to be done by hand. Slavery was a result of wars and strife between nations, and was a source of cheap, easily replaced labor.

Answer 10

Slavery was a trade. It started when the portugese (who were great with navigation) landed in africa at a time when the egyptian empire was long gone and no other civ. had ever brought africa to the top like the egyptians. The portugese in turn traded the slaves with the americas for things like gold. The african tribes had sold there own people for tradable items like silk and weaponery because they had no concern but for themselves and what was, at the time good for the tribe. African tribes were at war and so to be the tribe at the top they traded there people for things they thought may help there tribe win.against