In 1440, the Portuguese began sending ships south along the coast of Africa in hopes of finding an alternative route to the spices and luxuries of East Asia. Unsure of themselves, it was slow going for these early explorers. Present day Gambia was not reached until 1455, Ghana not until 1471, Congo in 1485, and the the southern tip of the continent in 1488. To help finance these voyages, the monarchy of Portugal encouraged explorers to trade with the local kingdoms they came across. Such trade included various luxuries, but perhaps one of the more lucrative was the trade in African slaves. So much so, that expeditions began to be created not to carry out further exploration, but specifically to bring slaves back to Portugal.
Slavery was not a new concept in Europe, though it was one in various states of transformation. While slavery had been common in Roman times, during the Medieval period it had largely been replaced by feudal serfdom, though the use of household slaves persisted. Slavery was most common in the various kingdoms along the shores of the Mediterranean, where conflict between Christian and Muslim nations provided a ready supply of slaves to sell and trade. Though nobody really associated race or ethnicity with slavery at the time, it was generally frowned upon to force people of your own group into slavery, though it was perfectly acceptable for them to fall into poverty and sell themselves into slavery if needed. Important as well, slavery was something that just affected an individual, meaning the children of slaves weren’t automatically slaves themselves. As well, slaves were not considered just property, having rights similar to indentured servants.
The early Portuguese sailing down the coast of Africa at first tended to carry out raids to capture slaves, but this proved problematic in that the African kingdoms, not being big fans of this, tended to send out their own ships to defend their shores in response. This changed in 1494, when the Portuguese made treaties with many of these kingdoms, opening up the peaceful trading of slaves. Now slavery was not a new concept in Africa either, with most of the kingdoms of western Africa practicing forms of slavery similar to Europe, some on fairly large scale. Given that most of these slaves were captured in wars or people who broke laws, the various kingdoms were more than happy to trade them in return for European weapons and other goods. Some of the larger kingdoms selling slaves to the Portuguese included the Kingdom of Kongo, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire, the latter two having long traded slaves across the Sahara to the Islamic kingdoms of North Africa.
At first the Portuguese only shipped slaves back to Europe, where they were traded into Spain and into the European slave markets, mostly in the Mediterranean. Some of these slaves were then taken across the Atlantic to the New World as personal servants, the first mention of them in the New World being in 1501 on the island of Hispaniola. The first shipment of slaves directly from Africa to the New World occurred in the 1520, with the Portuguese taking them to their small colonies in Brazil to help grow sugar and harvest brazilwood, which was prized for its use in making red dye. Similar to other areas, the natives of Brazil were quickly dying of disease, necessitating the importation of a new work force given the few Portuguese settlers had no interest in doing the work themselves. However, regular shipments did not begin until 1560, as the colonies grew in size.
As the Spanish increasingly began to face similar issues in the Caribbean, they also began buying slaves from the Portuguese, the first direct shipment from Africa occurring in 1525. However, such shipments were limited, with the colonists in the Caribbean getting most of their slaves by raiding Native American villages along the Gulf Cost and lower Atlantic Seaboard. This began to change drastically after 1550, when major outbreaks of Old World diseases killed off most of the Native Americans living in what is today the southeastern United States. The importation of slaves into the Caribbean increased, but was still relatively low compared to the number of slaves moving into European markets. Despite similar apocalyptic pandemics in Mexico and other parts of New Spain, the importation of slaves into these areas remained relatively low, the surviving populations of Native Americans, though decimated, still high enough to meet Spanish needs which were largely focused on mining.
The Portuguese continued to dominate the African slave trade throughout the sixteenth century, though in the latter half English, French, and Dutch smugglers increasingly carried out their own raids and trading with various smaller African kingdoms, shipping the slaves mostly to Europe, but also to the New World from time to time. Though a relatively small number of slaves were shipped to the New World during this period, and their treatment was relatively benign, at least according to the fucked up standards of the day, the Portuguese slave trade was the first step towards the creation of one of the most horrific systems of servitude in human history. One that would result in millions of people being shipped across the Atlantic, and generations of people being reduced to a status similar to livestock.
