My summary of chapter 4 of the book "American History"

Everything You Need to Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide (Big Fat Notebooks)

※上記の本のチャプター1を読んで、私が英語で書いた要約です。ネイティブの添削済。

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The importance of chapter 4 is slavery in the Americas. It was the beginning of the sad history that happened around the 1600s to the 1700s.

In those days, there were the colonies of European countries in the Americas, and Europeans had their own plantations. Because sugarcane was the major export to Europe, most plantations grew sugarcane. Harvesting sugarcane needed a lot of tough farm workers. Initially, the Native Americans were forced to work on the plantations by Europeans. However, most of them were killed by the diseases from the Columbian Exchange and constant tough labor, so Europeans thought that they needed another labor force. It was the begining of full-fledged slavery.

Every colony in the Americas imported slaves from Africa. It's because their places to run away to were far away from their country, and most of them had working experiences as farmers. Also, they already had immunity to the diseases from the Columbian Exchange. For that reason, the triangular trade as slave trade was actively pursued.

The triangular trade was the trade between American colonies, the west Indies, and Africa. When the slaves were transported, they were considered mere cargo, so they were crammed together and were only given a little food.

Europeans made laws about slavery. The laws were for serverely punishing slaves when they escaped. However, there were runaway slaves and they were called (known as) Maroons.

After that, African slaves in the Americas formed new cultures. Influenced by African traditions, songs, dances, and storytelling, new cultures were formed. Most slaves were converted to Christianity by Europeans, but still retained their African beliefs. The spirituality of African beliefs was a major element of their new lives.

Over time, racism took hold in the Americas by the belief that some races were inferior. After that, for a long time, racism and the system of slavery continued with a vicious cycle.

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