By the late 1600's, there were about 750,000 "civilized" inhabitants, i.e. Negro slaves from Africa, working the plantations and by the turn of the century, many of the plantations owners had grown extremely wealthy as a result of slave labor.

During the last half of the 17th century, there were a number of efforts to normalize the slave trade or, in other words, to make it appear legitimate and necessary for the growing economies of Europe. Part of this normalization involved the plantations, due to their overwhelming need for a large labor force. Before this normalization, "indentured servants (i.e. slaves) were freed every few years," but with the introduction of permanent servants, this situation was done away with. Also, as permanent slaves were brought to work the plantations, this gave plantation owners "a greater degree of control over the life of slaves," such as being able to sell off the...
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