Atlantic Economies

By the 1300s, sugar plantations were established in the coastal areas along the Mediterranean. Due to the size of those plantations, the amount of sugar produced was small and could not meet the demand. The Spanish and Portuguese then began building on the islands off the western coast of Africa. These plantations would begin to feel the need for a labor force so the Europeans would begin using African slaves for labor. The established practice of servitude throughout the societies surrounding the Mediterranean and other cultures was a very important element in those societies. Because of the rising demand for sugar in Europe, sugar production became immensely profitable. With the increase in prices and profits, sugar production began to expand and eventually became the most profitable investment for several European states, including the Portuguese, who eventually moved their sugar plantations from Brazil to the Caribbean.
    With an increase in production, plantation owners called for a larger labor force. With the demise of the indigenous population from disease and other conditions, the lack of a labor force in the Caribbean became an area of frustration. Migrant workers from Europe often did not materialize because the rewards were not enough to overcome the amount of work and the working conditions of the plantations. Many traders began to turn to Africa to solve that problem. Europeans showed a preference for enslaved Africans. Africans were already acclimated to the hot and humid conditions of the islands and were more capable of surviving the harshness of it. Also, Africans were immune to some of the European diseases that led to the demise of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and other areas claimed by Europeans.
    Eventually, improvements in naval and health practices allowed for overall conditions in the transatlantic slave trade. After surviving the “Middle Passage,” slaves would be facing a life of hard work and short life expectancy. The slave trade “also reflected the capacity of American sugar plantations, mineral-extraction operations and other users of slave labor to consume the lives of Africans” (Richardson, 591-592). So the improvements and overall capacity of the slave traders would continue to supply the continually growing number of slaves in order to replace those previously lost during the seas voyage or during their life on the sugar plantations. Lastly, plantation owners benefited from the use of cheap labor supplied through various sources in Africa. Cheap labor and the increasing demand for sugar meant higher profits for all of the investors  in the business of slaves and sugar. As we have come to realize, the greed of those investors continued to drive the trade of African men, women and children for several centuries.