Comparing John Elliott, Marcus Rediker, And Gregory O '

John Elliott, Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, and Gregory O’Malley have all written works based on the conquering of America and the reasons Europe funded expeditions to this “New World”. John Elliot focuses on Spain in chapter 4 of “Empires of the Atlantic World” and their burning desire for resources. Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker in “The Many-Headed Hydra” focus on the idea that the maritime state and other lower ranks were the biggest aids to Europe when conquering the Americas. Finally, Gregory O’Malley seems to think that slaves were the main conquerors of the New World in his “Final Passages”. John Elliott opens with the statement that Europeans saw the Americas as a place of abundance. Their first interests in the New World
Slavery was extremely prominent in the Americas due to several reasons; cash crops required many people to farm them, Africans were more likely to know English, and Africans were seen as non-humans. A large percent of the slaves that worked in North America came from the Caribbean, which also meant they had already been exposed to European diseases. However, England did not focus on the American mainland so much as it did on filling the Caribbean “sugar islands” with able workers. It soon became apparent that direct slave trade did not meet the demands of North America, hence an intercolonial slave trade. Transatlantic slave traders could count on the previously mentioned sugar islands to not only be full of plantation owners rich with expendable income due to the huge profit from sugar, but to also have the largest labor needs. The transatlantic traders and intercolonial traders were competitive, with South Carolina and Virginia being the largest importers for African slaves under both categories. Crops such as sugar, tobacco, and indigo all called for slave labor in the colonies. Demand also fluctuated, depending on the seasons and location of the slave owners. These fluctuations allowed for the economy, especially in South Carolina and Virginia, to boom. “Economic incentive encouraged intercolonial traders to exaggerate the quality of their wares…The perceived quality of captives was crucial in a competitive market.” If it weren’t for the movement, supply, and demand of slaves, the land would have not been so profitable. With this, O’Malley argues that while England “made” their economy, it was African slaves that fueled the fire. Without slave work, the Caribbean islands and the Americas would have produced much less of their important cash crops, and would not have generated vital income to help make England a world