Colonies, Disease and the Slave Trade in the Americas

When Europeans crossed the Atlantic, they changed two continents for good. Disease swept through the Americas. Sugar fields rose in Brazil. Millions of Africans were shipped across the ocean in chains. The story of colonies is also the story of this human cost.

In this lesson, we look at what happened to the people of the Americas after contact. We see how Portugal took Brazil, how sugar and slavery grew together, and what Europe gained. We also see how historians have argued about it since.

1How many people died in the Americas?

Nobody knows exactly how many people lived in the Americas before 1492. Evidence is thin. Scholars have offered estimates from 8 million to over 100 million. Many now lean toward about 50 million.

All agree on one point. The native population fell sharply after contact. Its causes were many. Eurasian disease was one. War and forced removal were others. The wider breakdown of societies added to the toll.

• Pre-1492 estimates range from 8 to over 100 million.
• Many scholars favour about 50 million.
• Causes: disease, violence and social breakdown.

2Why did disease hit so hard?

People in the Americas had never met many Eurasian diseases. These included smallpox, influenza and plague. Their bodies had no earlier exposure. Epidemics could spread fast.

The Spanish had lived with smallpox for centuries. Many had some immunity. That gap helped the Spanish campaigns, as we saw in Mexico.

The Spanish also set up forced labour. Under the encomienda, conquerors received the labour of conquered people. In theory, they owed protection and teaching in return. In practice, conditions were harsh.

• Smallpox, influenza and plague were new to the Americas.
• The Spanish had some immunity.
• Encomienda: labour of conquered people for settlers.

3How did Portugal get Brazil?

In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral led 13 ships toward India. His fleet sailed far into the western Atlantic. Historians say this may have been on purpose. He landed in April 1500 on a coast he took for a large island.

The land lay within Portugal’s share under the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. So Portugal claimed it. The first prize was brazilwood. This tree gave the land its name. French ships also came for it.

• 1500: Cabral reaches Brazil with 13 ships, bound for India.
• The land fell in Portugal’s share under Tordesillas, 1494.
• Brazilwood gave the land its name.

4How did sugar and slavery shape Brazil?

In 1534, King John III began to grant hereditary captaincies along the coast. Most of them failed. So the crown took a bigger role. In 1549, Tome de Sousa arrived as the first governor-general. He founded Salvador as the capital.

Jesuit priests came with him. One was Manuel da Nobrega. Settlers mistreated and tried to enslave the Indigenous people. Many Jesuits opposed this.

Sugar became the heart of the colony. Planters first used Indigenous labour. Later, Africans supplied most of the workforce. Sugar was Brazil’s main export from 1600 to 1650.

• 1534: hereditary captaincies. Most failed.
• 1549: Tome de Sousa and the Jesuits arrive. Salvador founded.
• Jesuits opposed the enslaving of Indigenous people.
• Sugar was the main export, 1600-1650.

5How big was the Atlantic slave trade?

Portuguese ships had carried enslaved people from West Africa since 1441. The trade to the Americas grew from there. Today’s estimate is that about 12.75 million Africans were loaded onto slave ships. Up to 2 million died on the voyage.

Brazil took more enslaved Africans than any other country. About 5.5 million were brought there between 1540 and the 1860s. Most came from West Central African ports, especially Luanda.

Brazil was the last country in the Americas to end slavery. It did so on 13 May 1888.

• About 12.75 million Africans were loaded onto ships.
• Up to 2 million died on the way.
• Brazil: about 5.5 million, the most of any country.
• 13 May 1888: Brazil ends slavery, the last in the Americas.

6What did Europe and the world gain?

Silver poured into Spain. Diego Huallpa, an Indigenous prospector, is traditionally credited with finding the Cerro Rico at Potosi in 1545. The mountain became the main silver source of the Spanish Empire. Treasure fleets later carried American goods to Spain from the 1560s.

The Columbian exchange also moved plants and animals across the ocean. Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, cassava and chili peppers spread from the Americas. Rice, wheat, sugar cane and livestock crossed the other way.

• 1545: Cerro Rico silver at Potosi.
• Treasure fleets ran from the 1560s.
• From the Americas: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco.
• To the Americas: wheat, rice, sugar cane, livestock.

7How did the debates and the colonies change?

People argued about slavery then and still do. Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved African, published his life story in 1789. It helped shift opinion toward ending the British slave trade. A law in 1807 followed.

Eric Williams, later the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, wrote Capitalism and Slavery. It was published in 1944. It tied slavery to economic change and to the end of the slave trade.

Colonial rule itself ended in the early nineteenth century. Haiti won independence in 1804. Most Spanish colonies broke away between 1808 and 1833. Brazil separated from Portugal in the early 1820s. Today we call the region Latin America. Spanish and Portuguese both belong to the Romance, or Latin, family of languages.

• 1789: Equiano’s autobiography. 1807: British Slave Trade Act.
• Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery, 1944.
• Haiti 1804. Spanish America 1808-1833. Brazil early 1820s.
• Latin America: Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages.

8What are the exam traps?

• Population figures are estimates. Treat any single number as rough.
• Brazil was Portuguese. Most of the rest of Latin America was Spanish.
• Cabral was bound for India, not Brazil.
• Brazil took the most enslaved Africans and ended slavery last.
• Eric Williams wrote Capitalism and Slavery. Equiano wrote a life story.