Plantation Societies in the Era of European Expansion

Plantation Societies in the Era of European Expansion
ISBN-10
1351910787
ISBN-13
9781351910781
Category
History
Pages
399
Language
English
Published
2018-11-07
Publisher
Routledge
Author
Judy Bieber

Description

The emergence of a widespread ’plantation complex’, in which slave labour produced crops such as sugar on large estates funded by European capital, was a phenomenon of the New World. This book shows how the institution of slavery was transformed by the demand for labour in the Americas, to fill the gap between conquerors and vanquished Indians and to work in mines, workshops, ranches and, above all, on the new plantations that were established to exploit the empty lands. The essays use quantitative methodology to draw conclusions about slave existence and demography, and examine the profitability and varying degrees of harshness of slave systems in different regions. They also consider the questions of manumission and slave resistance.

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