The Spanish started to populate the islands of the Caribbean. Plantations emerged and also the desire of finding gold pressured many into coming across the ocean. The Spanish granted settlers the right to demand taxes and labor from the indians. The Indians became bound to the land. It is slavery with a combination of feudalism. The discovery of silver sealed the fate of the indians. They had to work in the mines.
The Indians died for numerous reasons:
1. Cave-ins: Not exactly a solid process, many accidents
2. Malnutrition: Because the Indians had to work such long cruel hours, Indians were not able to grow sufficient crops to eat. Many of the good crops would go to the Europeans.
3. Overworked: Indians had to work long hours, sometimes 18 hours a day. The heat and humidity of the Caribbean started to wear down the Indians. Even though the Indians lived their entire lives in the region, they never subjected themselves to severe oppressive conditions.
4. Disease: Europeans coming over to live in the Americas meant new different types of disease. Regardless of the disease, major or minor, Indians did not have the immune system to combat it, and entire tribes would die from European diseases.
Eventually the Spanish were upset over the treatment of the Indians. The New Laws of 1542 forbade the enslavement of Indians. Africans were not included. They were rarely enforced. They were needed because the world was looking poorly upon their treatment.
Many Spanish made their fortunes in the Americas; Gold, Silver, Cacao, Coffee, and Lumber to name a few. In the West Indies they made their fortune through tobacco and sugar cane. Plantations were developed, and cruel labor practices followed. This eliminated the local population. Europeans needed a new cheap source of labor to continue their prosperity.
Africa was the answer. Most Europeans believed anyone that was not Christian or at least of European descent were less than human. You might say that peoples like the Africans, Indians, and Asians were seen as second level humans without a soul. Because they were not seen in the same light, enslaving them was not far off.
One of the darkest eras in the history of the world occurred from the 1500's to the early 1800's. During these three hundred years, millions of Africans were killed and transported. Middle Passage was the backbone of this practice.
Africans were chosen to replace the dead labor of the Indians for various reasons. Africans were able to handle the heat and humidity of the Islands; they were easy to conquer; and they have be enslaved in Europe for hundreds of years, especially since Africa was newly opened by the Portuguese.
Slavery is not a new practice in the history of the world. Cultures have been enslaving other cultures after wars for hundreds of years. It was accepted, not happily, that when a culture was defeated, the losers either died, stay suppressed, or enslaved.
The first Africans were soldiers and prisoners of tribal warfare. They were traded to Europeans by conquering tribes. Later, in the history of slavery, mass kidnapping for lack of a better term dominated to process.
Once placed into slavery, the slaves were no longer human, rather they were property. The slaves were constantly watched for two reasons; riots and suicide. Killing newly purchased slaves was a way of losing money.
It took 2-3 days to load the ships to transport them across the Ocean. The reason why it took so long was because the ship was not at the dock, it was in the harbor. Row boats were used so they could keep close eye on the slaves as they were being processed. At any time they could jump into the water, and kill themselves. Since all the slaves were locked together, many could die with one act.
Once the ship is loaded, the slaves were kept in a place in the deck on their back. It was hot, cramped, dark, scary, smelly, Hell. Many people died or were not fed if they felt the slave was not going to make it across. All the waste of humans were left below the deck; Urine, throw up, feces, sweat. At this point, slaves were only fed to keep alive. It was a cost cutting decision.
In the middle of the trip, slaves were brought on deck for various reasons. The bottom line it was called the "Dancing of the Slaves." The dancing of the slaves was the first attempt to get the slaves ready physically for their new life. The slaves were on their backs for a very long time. Besides starting to exercise them, the breaking of their spirits was also necessary. Slaves that were still independent and difficult were hard to sell.
Little by little the slaves were fed and exercised more when they got closer to the Americas. If they were not ready to be sold, the ships stayed outside the horizon so the people would not know how long it took to finish this process. Once they were ready to be sold, the process was duplicated unloading as they did loading.