1600

Slavery in the United States of America could be said to have first began in 1619, when twenty enslaved African slaves were forcibly brought to Jamestown, Virginia by slave ship. Throughout the 1600s, enslaved Africans were used as a plentiful, cheap labor source by Europeans settling in North America. They were a far more efficient and exploitable labor source than indentured servants, who typically only worked until they had paid off their debts. It is estimated that around seven million africans were enslaved and imported to the Americas in the 1700s alone, typically working on plantations. This atrocity would continue until the mid 19th century.