Author: Dr. Shrout

Colonialism, as told in Kupperman’s Jamestown Project and Brooks` Ecological Perspectives, has always been difficult. In Jamestown, Virginia, England made its first settlement on the James River named after King James. It was small and served as a tiny village with its own economy and government. It was successful in England marking its newfound territory for colonialism. However, it did not come easy at all because it was well within native territory. Natives, like the Algonquians, did not welcome them and often fought the settlers to gain back their territory. That is until relationships were established with the natives in trading and making materials like copper. As described by Kupperman, the main banknote of Jamestown in the early 1600’s was tobacco and African Slaves were brought over to toil over this cash crop (Kupperman, 1).” This reminded me of Chapter 5 in The Atlantic World by Egerton et al. with the labor regimes and the slave trade for work.

As it has always been, a settlement can only be as successful if the resources can offer sustenance to the settlers. For instance, Mande-speaking populations in Africa “often exploited the Nile River because they lived in Sub-Saharan Africa (Brooks, 26).” In addition, rainfall also dictated where natives live because when you live in a dry climate, water supply is paramount for your survival. Brooks also mentions “the improvement in livable climates actually increased trade between tribes (Brooks, 33).” They were successful because they used the rivers for trade and transport, kind of like the natives in Lipman’s Murder on the Saltwater Frontier. So you can see, competition with natives can unsettle a population but can also unite them through relationships and trade networks if all goes well. All in all, trade, relationships and resources determine the success of colonies, big and small.

Brooks, George. “Ecological Perspectives on Mande Population Movements, Commercial Networks, and Settlement Patterns from the Atlantic Wet Phase (Ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) to the Present” History of Africa. 16, (1989), pp. 23-40.

Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Jamestown Project. Harvard University Press: Feb. 2009

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In George E. Brooks’ and Kupperman’s works, one of the main themes featured is the relationship between migration and social change. “Ecological Perspectives” discusses the impact climate change had on migration, and how migrants themselves impacted their environment through language and commerce. Wet or humid weather allowed an opportunity for local peoples to travel to other parts of Africa to cultivate crops or engage in business interests (Brooks, 28). In doing so, these people initiated shifts in their lifestyles in order to live in new territory, and often spread their culture to surrounding areas. Dialects much as the Mande dialect were often spread to different groups and were eventually adapted as the norm (Brooks, 133). As various groups began to adapt to change in their surroundings, they also brought their lifestyles along with them.

In The Jamestown Project, Kupperman briefly talk about migrants in the colonies and their impact on settlements. Jamestown was viewed as a “profitable colony,” a place where migrants would earn a living by their own hands and not worry about an authority figure controlling their lives (Kupperman, 284). By engaging in servitude or land ownership, new colonists were able to contribute to the expansion of Jamestown and be participants in its economy (Kupperman, 286). By all means, it was not an easy process for migrants to create establishments in North America. Their impact on colonist society would lead to more sufficient commerce and a diverse population, helping ease newcomers into a system different from an European social structure.

I agree with Matthew that settlements often failed unless there were available resources to sustain it. Ethnic groups in Africa were aware that climate change would make a serious impact on their resources and commerce unless they moved to a new area that would benefit their settlement growth. The migration process discussed in Kupperman’s article reminded me of Chapter Five in our Atlantic World textbook (Egerton et al, 161). Europeans immigrated to the colonies for a variety of reasons; religious freedom, escaping hardship, and servitude. As they settled, arrivals began to impact social structures and make a name for themselves in their new homelands. They now had the power to work their own territory, practice their own religion, and ultimately participate in a democratic society. George E. Brooks’ discussion of social expansion through migration in Africa is similar to Europeans’ impact on to colonies in terms of bringing their ideals and cultural lifestyles. Whether through language, religion, or economic ventures, migrants altered the social landscape in their countries and created variants that would dramatically impact their lives.

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Chapter five of The Atlantic World begins with the story of the rebellious English woman Barbara Rolfe and her father’s attempts to pawn her off into servitude. By going against established roles for English women, Rolfe had threatened English patriarchal control which motivated her father to force her into indentured servitude. This story interested me as it at first felt out of place compared to the rest of the chapter. Once I read more I understood that the story was on par with the theme of forced labor and colonial development. I thought it was an interesting point that forced labor was necessary for the growth of European colonies. Through Europeans desire to prosper quickly from the New World, mobilizing indigenous workers became a priority.

Diana Tran discussed how one society viewing another race and considering them to be nothing more than possible servants/slaves instead of equals to be shocking. I was equally surprised at that concept and interested in the differences between servitude and slavery. Europeans, natives, and Africans all endured forced labor in the Americas however their individual experiences vastly differed from one another. Native Americans experienced an immediate transition from a maintained hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a forced laborer for European benefit. On page 150, Egerton discusses the Spanish rule over the indigenous population causing devastating effects. Through the Spanish encomienda, natives were forced to give tribute to Spanish colonist in the form of gold dust. Due to European diseases and the harsh working conditions native populations experienced massive amounts of deaths. The Spanish would justify the vast loss of life through their profits and the idea of a “just war.” African slaves would experience similar outcomes with European nations, brought to new heights by forced overseas migration. Similar to the ideas brought up in Smallwood’s and Lipman’s articles, Europeans would create ideas that the indigenous populations were inferior to them thus establishing new social hierarchies to distance themselves from the “deceitful” and “barbaric” natives. This is why it is interesting that in early colonial culture, European indentured servants made up the main labor force for colonial development.

Because of mass European populations and a majority of them being lower class, some desired to begin a new life in the new world. Indentured servants would agree to serve 4 – 8 years in the Americas in return for the voyage. Already a stark difference from native and African workers, European indentured servants may also be given freedom dues such as promised land or agricultural equipment. Sometimes indentured servants would experience harsh treatment from their masters. they would retaliate by running away, refusing to work, or making their case in court; all three of which, if performed by a non-European laborer it would produce grim punishments. These Europeans still experienced strict social hierarchies, though not as extremely harsh compared to the indigenous populations. These hierarchies were created through income, gender, and religion. This led me back to Barbara Rolfe’s story, as even though she obviously experienced more freedom then native slaves, she was restricted by English gender roles. By being pawned off to work in the new world, Rolfe could have considered her own situation of forced labor to be slavery. And yet, since she was an established member of European society she could run away and not have to face harsh repercussions because of her actions.

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In this chapter, Egerton makes the claim that labor and labor systems in the Atlantic world relied on bound labor and that bound labor was an integral aspect of the creation of the Atlantic world. Egerton points out that even systems that had not previously relied on bound labor became intrinsically tied to its concept. Indians, which had previously used their own labor system, became completely entrenched in bound systems, overwhelmingly not by their own choice. Egerton backs this point up by discussing the Spanish’s conquest of the Indians (Page 151). The Spanish slowly forced Indians in many different geographic locations into slavery, until it was banned; they then turned to other methods of bound labor, such as the requirement of tribute (Page 152). By forcing Indian groups to partake in this foreign form of labor, Europeans were radically changing both the labor systems and the tribes and populations themselves in Indian territories.

While Indians were the primary group affected by bound labor, Europeans themselves were heavily affected as well. Indentured servitude became very widespread in the earlier days of the formation of the Atlantic world, and continued to be popular (Page 162). The system allowed for the migration of thousands of Europeans, which significantly altered the populations of European settlements in the New World (Page 162). Groups that otherwise would not have been able to migrate on their own were allowed to do so due to indentured servitude, which Egerton argues changed the structure and politics of many different colonies.

Egerton also makes it clear that bound labor was integral in the economic success of the Atlantic. Bound labor of some sort consistently drove the plantation, beginning with the use of indentured European servants, and progressing to captured and enslaved Indians (Page 177). It is through success of the early model using these two laborers that Egerton argues the creation of the slave trade occurred.

My colleague Marissa Cervantes argues that the interaction that occurred between the various peoples in the Atlantic helped to create a coherent region, however, I disagree. While I absolutely agree with her assessment that the labor, migration, and settlement changed the fabric of the Atlantic world, I believe that the interaction led to instability in the entirety of the Atlantic world. It is also clear that one of the primary driving forces behind these changes was the use of bound labor, which Egerton again argues was critical in the development of the Atlantic world.

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Chapter 5 of Douglas Egerton’s textbook The Atlantic World highlights the large amount of dependency European colonizers placed on Native Americans to accommodate for the economic and consumer boom that resulted from Atlantic exploration. In order to keep up with the prosperity of the Atlantic, Spanish and English settlers heavily relied on African and Native American labor and exploitation. Through the violent and cruel treatment of Native slaves, ethical and religious justifications were often made. Even though Queen Isabella initially condemned Indian slavery, her accepting of “just war” led to her permitting of the enslavement of anyone who forcefully rejected Spanish dominion and Christianity (Egerton, 151).

This servitude was not idly accepted, as protests from both Spanish settlers and Native Americans tried to prevent the upcoming oppression. While Queen Isabella allowed for the forced labor of those not seen as Christian, other Catholics protested this: “…in 1511 the fiery Dominican friar Antonio Montesinos… told the listeners, who included the dignitaries of the islands, that they had no more hope of salvation than Turks and Moors who rejected the faith of Jesus” (Egerton, 152). In her response, Diana Tran mentions how horrid and shocking the idea of using an entire culture of peoples as indentured servants was, and that the simple idea of foreign lands introduced a system of servitude and exploitation. This statement makes sense to me when contextualizing the experiences of Atlantic World Native Americans in today’s codes of ethics and values. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Native oppression was justified through the idea that Catholicism was the dominant and superior faith–any group of peoples that rejected this belief was inferior and therefore punished. For me, trying to understand the mentalities of Spanish and English colonizers is near impossible, but accepting that these tragedies happened and contribute the the political and economic structure of the Americas today is a necessary step to fully comprehending Atlantic history.

Chapter 5 reminded me of Alberto Vieira’s Sugar Islands. According to Vieira, the success of sugar production in Madeira and the Canary Islands directly contributed to the exploitation and slavery of Native Americans and Africans throughout the Atlantic. Vieira’s writing ties in with Egerton’s chapter in that sugar cultivation correlated with the desperate need for labor to cater to the economic success of the Atlantic. Even though the need for workers was inevitable through the eyes of the Spanish and English, the cruel treatment of Africans and Native Americans are a product of Christian supremacy and European economic success.

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The thesis of Chapter 5 centers on how labor and migration patterns in the Americas shaped the Atlantic world demographically, commercially, and even topographically (Egerton, 150). Indeed, it is not difficult to visualize how the encomienda system the early Spanish colonizers utilized could have led to massive demographic losses, the enrichment of Spanish coffers, and the significant physical alteration of their colonial empire. Where once existed a sprawling indigenous population of 20 million in the Spanish Americas now stood a paltry 750,000 due to the egregious abuses of forced labor and cyclical epidemics (Egerton, 155). Certainly, the silver mines of Potosi and gold tributes paid by Indians made the Spaniards the eminent financial power of Europe at the time (Egerton, 150). Furthermore, the coerced abandonment of fishing and subsistence farming in favor of mining enacted topographical changes of its own. As such, Egerton’s thesis is well-founded.

Marissa Cervantes states in her own blog post that the chief argument behind The Atlantic World: A History is that “the Atlantic World was a time of exchange of people, commodities, and ideas”. This reflects in the authors’ discussion of commingling nationalities and religious sects diffusing throughout the Atlantic world (Egerton, 179). Diverse diasporas of Europeans made their way to North America, escaping religious persecution or simply seeking financial opportunity. William Penn’s namesake colony, Pennsylvania, accepted groups as broad on the Protestant spectrum as Huguenots and Mennonites, as well as sizable groups of German-speakers. We also witness the immigration of secretly practicing Jews, also known as “New Christians”, journeying to Spanish America. Huguenots were even received in the Dutch Cape Colony. This microcosm of different peoples reflect demographic changes, the free exchange of religious ideas, and the bestowing of the Atlantic its own unique character. Freedom of religious expression came to be a “foundation myth” of white-settler states, such as the United States, despite the pronounced intolerance of Calvinist Pilgrims. As evidenced, crucial factors in defining the Atlantic World were not merely long voyages or the miserable reality of life on a seafaring vessel. A steady diffusion of Europeans, Indians, and Africans via labor and migration patterns also shaped the Atlantic World.

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The initial wave of Europeans interested in staying in North America, came with the intention of using the new world as an economic venture. Sparked by the stories told by Christopher Columbus and the wave of explorers who followed, people in Europe came in search of gold and riches beyond their wildest dreams. Contrary to initial reports gold was not present in large amounts nor was it easily accessible. It took hard work to get to the gold. Early settlers wanted gold from the new world, but also took interest in harvesting cash crops to export back to Europe. That is where the need for a labor force arose. The Europeans had come all the way across the Atlantic to get rich; they were not interested in putting in the hard work to get rich. Rather than do the hard work themselves, they used any and every group of people they could to do the work for them. This included natives, indentured servants, captured POW’s and slaves from foreign lands.

The concepts in this chapter that I found to be the most captivating (since they were captives #dadjoke) were the reasons the Europeans used for their enslavement of local peoples. Diana mentioned the concept of “Just War” and the way that it was used by the Europeans at the time. The narrative about Europeans created thus far in the course is that they were a group of people who forced their will on anyone they encountered and would validate their actions through any reasoning that they could make believable. I think this “Just War” is a great example of this. On page 151 the author states that just war permitted the enslavement of anyone who forcefully rejected Spanish Dominion. In other words anyone who took issue with the Spaniards arriving on their land, forcing them to convert to their religion and give tribute to the Spaniards was an enemy of the state and could be forced into slavery. This concept was repeated again later in Brazil as the Portuguese began arriving and capturing natives to work on their cash crop farms.

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Chapter five of the Atlantic World focuses on the environmental entrapments that allowed for specific opportunities for different labor systems. Egerton lists the many various circumstances with which labor was considered: “Economic cycles, population growth and collapse, declining opportunities for employment and marriage, domestic discord, death of a parent, custom, war, invasion, deception: all helped define the constraints within which people found themselves laboring for others.”(Egerton, 149). This opening statement helps broaden our sense of the Atlantic as a whole. The argument being that there were many different modes or systems that allowed for labor to be exchanged between peoples, with migration being a major factor.
The migration chart in this chapter makes note of the some two million plus European migrants who traveled the Atlantic world, and the authors make the claim that the amount of migrants per European country is not necessary corollary (Egerton, 160). The authors also state that the amount of Europeans migrating across the atlantic from the years 1500-1783 were not in the largest group of peoples traveling the atlantic during that period of time, leaving that title to fishermen working seasonally in fisheries around Newfoundland. This in turn supports the author’s argument that migration was driven by the need for labor.

The authors detail the way that male dominance was introduced through the need for labor: “Especially in the seventeenth-century northern European colonies, a need for labor drove migration, and most laborers were young, able-bodied men. In their earliest years, colonies welcomed populations that were as high as 95 percent male.”(Egerton, 163). This sheds light on the increased importance and sense of value that was placed on laboring males at the time and in a broader context can teach us about gender roles and their places in evolving European and American societies.

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Enrique Angulo’s post on September 28, 2016 titled, “Treacherous Places”, explains the high hopes Europeans had for the rivers in the Americas, but that upon arrival, they were severely disappointed. Angulo said, “In reality these expeditions proved to be quite treacherous in more ways than one.” I feel like misconceptions of American prosperity was something that spanned many centuries. The seventieth century brought rise to indentured servitude in the Americas. Many Europeans who found themselves indentured servants did so out of despair or coercion. Indentured servitude was made out to seem like a great thing in order to kick start a future in the Americas for a person who could not afford to pay their way. Unfortunately, like the rivers for early European explorers, indentured servitude was often treacherous. They were often underfed, beaten, and mistreated.

The main difference between African slaves, Native American slaves, and indentured servants is the concept that indentured servants were allowed to file claims in court against their masters. These claims were not always seen as important because the council was made up of masters who often owned their own slaves and indentured servants. Other than that, indentured servants often worked side by side with slaves, given similar tasks to complete. I find it interesting to think that Native American slaves, African slaves, and indentured servants often worked side by side in the same fields. This chapter advises me that the phasing out of Native American slavery, and the onset of adopting African slavery intertwine. In much literature regarding African slavery, Native Americans and indentured servants are not mentioned. In reality Europeans were struggling to find labor due to drastic decreases in the population of Native American slaves due to disease. The Native American slaves were slowly replaced by African slaves and indentured servants.

Egerton, Douglas, Alison Games, Donald R. Wright, Kris E. Lane, Jane G. Landers. The Atlantic World: A History, 1400-1888. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2007.

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