Indentured servants didn't work out and Native Americans wouldn't be slaves so they wanted workers. The first slave came in 1619.
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European colonists brought enslaved Africans to their plantations in the Americas to provide cheap labor for cultivating crops like sugar, tobacco, and cotton. The transatlantic slave trade became a lucrative enterprise that helped fuel the economic prosperity of European colonies. Enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas to meet the labor demands of the expanding plantation economy.
European colonists began using Africans as slaves in the early 1500s with the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. The demand for labor in European colonies led to the systematic enslavement of Africans to work on plantations and in various industries.
Large numbers of Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade, beginning in the 16th century. This migration was driven by European colonizers' need for cheap labor to work on plantations and in mines in the Americas.
Africans were captured for enslavement through various means including raids, warfare, kidnapping, and trade with European slave traders. They were often sold by fellow Africans or European slave traders to work on plantations in the Americas. The transatlantic slave trade was brutal and dehumanizing, resulting in the forced migration of millions of Africans.
European nations wanted the captured Africans to provide labor for their colonies in the Americas, working on plantations and in mines. This demand for labor was driven by the lucrative trade in commodities such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco.
The scarcity of labor in the Americas, particularly in industries like agriculture and mining, led to the increased demand for slaves to work on plantations and in other labor-intensive activities. This demand fueled the growth of the Atlantic slave trade as European powers and colonists sought to fulfill their need for labor by forcibly bringing enslaved Africans to the Americas.