Portugal and Slavery essays

Portugal and Slavery essays In Portugal, slavery was a major issue that plagued the land, as was white merchants from Europe invading the area with their goods. Many white Europeans came to Africa to make money and profit for their own righteousness. White merchant would sell goods in Africa to make a higher profit. African would not let them into the country to sell their goods but the King allowed them to enter. As the Europeans entered Congo by the grace of the king, Dom Affonso, they would find their greatest good to sell and trade, slaves. Many Africans were forced into to slavery, sold to the highest bidder. This is how white Europeans profited so much. Many of the noblemen and their sons were kidnapped and forced to serve as slaves to other merchants. Many Africans pleaded with the king to pass a law that stated, any white man that want to profit from selling goods that wanted to live in Congo would have to inform the three noblemen. If any white man did not comply with these rules and regulations would lose all of their goods. Many merchants claimed they took care of their slaves by not branding the women as hard as the men and discarding the unhealthy ones. The women slaves were also cheaper than the males. On the other hand, French, Portuguese, and English slave owners would not get what they asked for in trade for the slaves. In return, the master would take everything from the slaves, including their clothes and feed them only bread and water three times a day. They had to feed six to seven hundred slaves on board a ship. You can imagine the small rations the slaves were served. Then, the masters would send them to the merchants skin and bones, not in good shape to do the manual labor they would probably have to do. Enslaved Africans were usually kidnapped. Many Africans were trained at an early age to fight and protect the house. Sometimes the youngest ones were taken and forced into slavery. ...