Why+use+Africans?

= The reasons for using African people as slaves. =

// “I admit I am shocked by the purchase of slaves,  // // And fear that those who buy them and sell them are knaves. // // What I hear of their hardships, their tortures and groans,  // // Is almost enough to draw pity from stones,  // // I pity them greatly, but I must be mum, (quiet)  // // For how could we do without sugar and rum?”  //
 * William Cowper, 1788.  **

Below are several sources which explain how people from the time of slavery (contemporaries) and modern people see the reasons for using African people.
"The native population of America (//American// //Indians)// died because they caught European diseases.    As a result they could not be used a slaves. The West Africans came from the same region as the Europeans and did not die from illnesses such as cold or flu." Unlike the Native Americans, many of the Africans knew how to farm and many blacks also knew metal working. These were skills that the plantation owners could use. ||
 * Number || Sources ||
 * ** 1. What is the author comparing African people to? ** || I think that there are extremely good reasons for thinking that White and Negro (Black people) are two different species. Black people do not have hair, but a covering of wool. They have an animal like smell and are cruel to their children. Indeed they have more in common with the orang-utan.
 * Samuel Long, 1769. He owned a sugar plantation in Jamaica. ** ||
 * ** 2. What practical reason is there for using African people rather than native Americans? ** ||
 * A history textbook, 1998. ** ||
 * ** 3. Why were the English keen to be involved with slavery? ** ||
 * Trading in slaves was a quick way to riches. Several men who became rich from the slave trade in Lancaster also became mayors of the city. For example, Dodson Foster was mayor from 1799-1811. He made all of his money from the slave trade. **
 * A History textbook, 1998. ** ||
 * **4. What does this suggest about white attitudes toward African chiefs?** || There were always African chiefs who were prepared to sell their war captives or criminals ||
 * **5. Was slavery better than life in Africa?** || Some people thought that the African slaves had been saved by being taken away from the savage society of Africa and made into Christians.
 * A modern history textbook. ** ||
 * **6. What skills did African people have that were useful?** ||