forced labor and slavery develop in tropical colonies? How was slavery in the Americas different from slavery in earlier societies?

Forced labor in the tropical colonies was created to support the production of 'cash crops' such as sugar cane. The harvesting of these crops was hard, back-breaking work. "Sugar was far more difficult work than cultivating cotton, tobacco, or rice. So many slaves died within a few years of their arrival in the sugar islands, sometimes only months, that a steady fresh supply was always needed" (Davis 2012). Only slavery could provide an efficient means to render such crops profitable. "Before long, British and French plantations in the West Indies began to dominate. British west coast ports such as Bristol and Liverpool thrived on the sugar cane industry and refineries and packaging factories were set up" (Sugar cane and the slave trade, 2012, Plant Cultures). The slave trade was called...
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