Slave Culture: A Comparison of British America and Latin America

Running head: SLAVE CULTURE
SLAVE CULTURE
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1SLAVE CULTURE
Introduction
British colonization in North America started in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and the
process of colonization reached its peak when the British Empire established its colony
throughout the America. Slavery was the most important institution in British colonial
America. British rulers captured Africans and brought them to the colonies as slaves
(Northrup, 1994). The Africans who came to the British America brought with them their
African culture, which was later transformed as they were exposed to different cultural
practices (Goodheart, Brown & Rabe, 1993). On the other hand, slavery in Latin American
lands was practiced in pre-colonial time and it was the common institution among the
indigenous pre-Columbian people of the Americas. Latin America was the colony of the
Spaniards and it was the sole destination in the Atlantic slave trade as huge numbers of
Africans were brought from Africa to the Spanish colonies. Black slaves arrived in Americas
in the early stages of exploration and settlement of the Spaniards (Northrup, 1994). They
have also brought their culture with them and mixing of culture was the prominent part of
their history.
The essay will show a compare and contrast of the slave culture of British America
and United States with slave culture in Latin America. It should be remembered that the
slaves in this regions were the African people mainly and their indigenous culture has been
mixed up with the new culture of the colonies. The essay will investigate the black culture of
the colonies.
Slave Culture of British America and United States
Almost ten million Africans were forcibly taken from their homelands and taken to
the Americas as slaves by the Europeans (Goodheart, Brown & Rabe, 1993). Most of these
Africans were brought in as workers in the cotton and sugar plantation. When boiled down to

2SLAVE CULTURE
the root causes of the phenomenon of slavery, it can now be understood that it was not racism
that had propelled the trend, but rather economic causes were the prime reason for slavery to
have flourished in the world.
During the period of 16th to the 19th century, the European colonial masters used to
transport massive amounts of arms and ships to Africa, enslave the native people and then
transport them to the Americas as slaves (Northrup, 1994). As a return for these endeavors,
coffee, sugar and cotton was exported back to Europe. In the northern part of the American
continent, it was mostly the British who had established their dominance, while the other
European colonies had spread across the South America and the Caribbean.
According to Weber, power is the fundamental in any form of social relationship that
enables one person to make another person carry out her or his will even against the wishes
of the latter. This domination has perhaps been epitomized by slavery. The North American
slavery was one of the most degrading things ever to happen and ultimately resulted in the
Civil War, which finally was able to abolish the trend in the United States. The general
mindset of the American people, who were in support of slavery, during that time can be
summed up from the writings of Thomas Ruffin, a North Carolina judge, who said that the
final motive of the whole trend of slavery is to make sure that the European masters are have
public safety and that they must be guaranteed profit from the trade (Goodheart, Brown &
Rabe, 1993). The southern states of the country, the Confederacy, were the places where the
notion of slavery was widely accepted and master-subordinate mentality dominated the daily
lives and views of the people.
The Atlantic slave trade had flourished with the discovery of the New World
and the North America was perhaps the biggest market for the slaves, being more densely
populated by the Europeans than the Latin America (Northrup, 1994). Even though it was the