Slavery

By jhillman
  • Jan 14, 1500

    Portugease at Gold Coast

    In 1482, the Portuguese arrived and established a fort at Elmina. The region became a major gold supplier to Europe.
  • Period: Dec 1, 1500 to

    Slavery 1500-1750

  • Dec 14, 1502

    First merchant sending African slaves to America

    1502: Juan de Córdoba of Seville was the first identified merchant to send an African slave to the New World. He is permitted by the Spanish authorities to only send one slave.
  • Dec 14, 1505

    Sugar Cane in New World

    The first record of sugar cane being grown in the New World it was in Santo Domingo (modern Dominican Republic).
  • Jan 22, 1510

    Transportation of Slaves to New World

    Start of the systematic transportation of African slaves to the New World: King Ferdinand of Spain authorises a shipment of 50 African slaves to be sent to Santo Domingo.
  • Aug 18, 1518

    Import 4000 Slaves

    Significant escalation of the slave trade, Charles V grants his Flemish courtier Lorenzo de Gorrevod permission to import 4000 African slaves into New Spain. From this point onwards thousands of slaves are sent to the New World each year.
  • Dec 14, 1525

    Direct Slave Trade

    1525 First slave voyage direct from Africa to the Americas
  • Nov 14, 1528

    Slaves in US

    November 1528: a slave called Esteban (or Estevanico) becomes the first African slave to step foot on what is now the United States of America.
  • Oct 14, 1562

    English slave trade

    October 1562: John Hawkins of Plymouth becomes the first English sailor that we know about to have obtained African slaves - approximately 300 of them in Sierra Leone - for sale in the West Indies. Hawkins traded the slaves illegally with Spanish colonies, but the trip was profitable and others followed. These contributed to increasing tensions between England and Spain. (As well as initiating the English slave trade, Hawkins also introduced both the potato and tobacco to England.)

  • Gold Coast

    Europeans gained interest in the Gold Coast beginning in the 17th century because of its rich gold deposits.

  • Dutch on Gold Coast

    1642, the Dutch had forced out the Portuguese.

  • Large Slave Trade

    by 1750, the slave trade was booming