How Did Slavery Contribute To The Development Of The Colonies In The 18th And 18th Century

Throughout the Seventeenth and Eighteenth century, the development of the New World colonies in British North America and Barbados by Britain and its colonists made use of the option of slavery to benefit the new colonies economy. The reason that slavery was appealing towards the settlers was due to the strenuous labour and long hours necessary to grow cash crops on plantations. It takes time and effort to grow these crops, and the main crops we will be focusing on are sugar, tobacco, and rice. Since running a plantation is costly and timely, settlers and the elite in Britain attempted to achieve maximum profits with little or no pay towards the workers. through importing slaves into the colonies; mostly through the trans-atlantic slave trade, the British and their colonies were able to gain large amounts of revenue through the hard work of these slaves. The men and women that were transferred from their homes by the Royal African Company; as well as local African American people, put in all the effort they had throughout the uneasy tasks they were asked to do. These men and women were not compensated correctly, and were treated poorly. Yet, without the use of these slaves, the colonists would have never been able to produce
at the rate they wished to, and may not have been able to survive. The cash crops were the main export’s from British North America and Barbados, and crucial to the New World economy, and the efforts that these slaves were forced to put in led to the rise of tobacco, sugar, and rice especially were crucial towards the progression and survival of the new colonies. During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century, The British Crown and the settlers in the New World colonies were dedicated to the progression of the economy in these colonies.
However, they were very aware of the challenges and costs of forming colonies. In resort, the British decided that slavery would be appropriate in these circumstances, and they turned to The Royal African Company of England and the transatlantic slave trade for these slaves. “The Royal African Company of England shipped more enslaved African women, men, and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade.” These slaves faced brutal conditions and treatment, but had no other choice but to leave
abroad. The reasoning for sending these people were mostly due to the extensive labour needed for running a plantation. “The slave trade and slavery were central to the settler societies established in the New World and to the production of staple crops for European consumption.” Work was long and gruesome, and these labourers were greatly mistreated by the Plantation owners. The vast majority of a plantation slave’s waking hours were spent working, and new forms of labor discipline and supervision in the eighteenth century enabled planters to extract more working hours and greater physical efforts on a wider variety of tasks from their slaves." Without the hard work that was forced upon and completed by these slaves, there would have been food shortages for the settlers as well as for Europeans Another complication that the British found with running a plantation without slaves was that it was rather expensive. Settler’s would demand high wages for the lengthy work that was required. Owning slaves would make that work less costly; and also mandatory. “Most of the waking hours of slaves, on at least six days of the week, were spent toiling for their owners without any wages.” The British took full advantage of slavery to better their own economic situation.