Slavery in the Americas was quite diverse. Mining operations in the tropics experienceddifferent needs and suffered different challenges than did plantations in more temperate areas ofNorthern Brazil or costal city’s serving as ports for the exporting of commodities produced on thebacks of the enslaved peoples from the African continent. This essay will look at these differentsituations and explore the factors that determined the treatment of slaves, the consequences ofthat treatment, and the conditions that lead to resistance by the slaves working in their variouscapacities. After the initial conquest of Mexico and South America it was time to develop theeconomy and export the resources that would benefit the monarchy back home in Spain andPortugal. Silver and Gold were two such commodities. Silver mines in Northern Mexico weresupervised by blacks who directed the Indians in the arduous task of extracting the preciousmetal. Gold in Central Mexico was also mined by blacks. The Gold mining regions were hot,tropical, isolated areas of the jungle. The regions were sparsely populated and it was difficult tokeep the locals as a work force. The introduction of disease in the tropics made these areasdeath zones to the indigenous people as they had no resistance to the virulent plagues. There wasa need to get cheap or free labor that would be capable of resisting the disease and who would beeasier to dominate than the locals who could run off and establish themselves elsewhererelatively easily. The natural answer was to obtain slaves from the African continent. The slavetrade was already in operation on the African continent. Coastal cities there often enslavedinland peoples so it was not difficult to obtain the stock and export them to the Americas. Slaves in the mining regions were subject to harsh, isolated conditions. There were fewfemales and little or no community amongst the slaves. Some of the workers did have ac...
