Free Slavery In Native America Essay Sample

In and before the 1600s, Indians performed some sort of slavery before the coming of the Europeans. The situation of enslaved Indians varied from community to community. For example, some were adopted into the community to replace slain warriors of battle. Some of these were mutilated or tortured to the point of death as a consolation to the bereaved families. Others were even married off to the widows of the deceased. Other communities, like the Creek, took the offspring of the slaves to become a full part of the community rather than enslaved offspring. Some tribes held them hostages for payment or even practiced debt slavery or imposed slavery for crimes committed by community members.
On the coming of the Europeans, the manner of slavery going on changed abruptly. The Indians discovered that the British settlers were eagerly buying Indian slaves to work in their rice and tobacco plantations. The Indians got into a series of wars amongst themselves in order to capture slaves for them to be sold to the Europeans. After the demand for the slave trade became insatiable, the whites actively enslaved the Indians and exported them. They even allied with other communities in order to get them into war and bring them as many war captives as possible, having provided them with the firearms. The number of Indians that were enslaved could not be known, but it is estimated to have reached tens of thousands. They were sold to the settlers in exchange for firearms, clothes, shoes, metal knives and axes and beads.
Nevertheless, there can be a comparison drawn between the natives at the southeast and those at the southwestern part of the US. For example, in both, the natives turned on each other. In the south east, the people broke their peace treaties and entered into wars with not only old enemies, but also with those communities, they never had a quarrel. The warring communities would take all their captives and give them off to the white men who took them to their plantations or even exported them to the West Indies to still work as slaves. The money obtained from this was still taken to capitalize their successful plantations. In the southwest, the communities, especially the Aztecs, went against all their neighboring tribes and conquered them. They then gave out their slaves to the Europeans there, who then were amazed at the significant numbers of slaves.
Furthermore, the natives of the southeast sold their slaves to the white men in exchange for clothes, hats, beads and ammunition; however, they did it for alliance with the white man. For instance, the French, wanting to expand their empire, told the natives that the English were planning to take them all to slavery. Giving examples of those sent abroad, they threatened the people that the British would in the end take them all to the faraway countries, never to see their homeland or taste freedom again. With this, the natives of that area, the Choctaws, sought an alliance with the French to prevent that from happening. In the southwestern parts, mainly part of the Aztecs, these natives conquered other communities mainly in order to acquire labor to do their own work. Moreover, they even used their captives as human sacrifices to appease their gods for letting them defeat those communities. By the time the Europeans reached these parts, they were indeed shocked at the good number of slaves there. Some of these slaves were even taken to the military of the whites, mainly the Spanish. In sum, slavery in the native America happened before and during the entry of the Europeans and it made significant effects to the relationships between the tribes.