Main causes:
Importance of growth in colonies
Shortage of labor
Failure to find alternative sources of labor
The legal position
Racial attitudes
Religious factors
Military factors
Brief explanation:
Increasing numbers of slaves were transported across the Atlantic because of the new form of farming that developed in the European colonies of the New World.
European farmers attempted to use native populations as a source of labour, which proved difficult. However, tha did not stop the development of the New Word.
With new land available, labourers were always tempted to leave their job and start their own farm. Wages needed to be high enough to tempt them to stay, reducing the planters’ profit margins.
The status of slaves as property was long established. The use of the property law meant that the enslaved were not considered humans, but commodities.
Several ideas from the time supported the enslavement of Africans:
Africans were seen as more suited to work on the plantations
African captives would be executed if the slave trade was abolished
African slaves were seen as benefitting from being looked after by the superior Europeans
Some Bible passages were used to justify slavery. In Genesis Noah placed the 'curse of Ham' on the descendents of his son, starting with his grandson Canaan.
