How did Europeans change slavery?

Expert Answers
mlsldy3 eNotes educator| Certified Educator

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans were interested in the trading going on in African nations and their sophisticated trading networks. This gave the Europeans the idea to get involved in trading human beings. They took the enslaved people from West Africa to the Americas.

In the Americas people were now getting used to the idea of owning their own land. They didn't want to work for other people now that they had some freedom to work for themselves. Convicts were being used to work the land at the time, but the landowners found that these people were just not getting the work done. The planters and overseers at the farms and plantations, then began to purchase the enslaved people the Europeans were bringing over. The action that the Europeans took by selling people, affected slavery immensely. This would go on for generation after generation. The horror of people being taken from their native homes to become sold as slaves. 

With the Europeans now becoming involved with the slave trade, they brought it to the Americas. It affected this country in one of the worst ways possible. You have to wonder, if the Europeans hadn't come here with the enslaved people what would have happened? Would some other country done it? Would we, as Americans, discovered what was going on? Would there have been a way to keep this from ever happening? This is how the Europeans changed to face of slavery forever.

sid-sarfraz | Student

What is slavery?

Slavery refers to a condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live and at what they work. Slavery had previously existed throughout history, in many times and most places. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, Incas and Aztecs all had slaves.

Characteristics of Slavery

  • Slaves are supposed to live their lives in a manner their master wants
  • Slaves are to follow all the instructions given by their master
  • Slaves are under the complete power of their masters and they can be sold or passed along on the will of their master only as they are known as their master's property.
  • Slavery is transmitted from parent to child.

What does it mean to be a Chattel Slave?

A chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned for ever and whose children and children's children are automaticallyenslaved. Chattel slaves are individuals treated as complete property, to be bought and sold.

Chattel slavery was supported and made legal by European governments and monarchs. This type of enslavementwas practiced in European colonies, from the sixteenth century onwards.





Chattel slavery was supported and made legal by European governments and monarchs. This type of enslavement was practiced in European colonies from the sixteenth century onwards.

  • Europeans wanted lots of slaves , so people were captured to be made slaves.
  • Enslaved Africans were transported huge distances to work. They had no chance of returning home.
  • Children whose parents were enslaved became slaves as well.



Slavery changed when Europeans became involved, as it led to generation after generation of peoples being taken from their homelandsand enslaved forever. It led to people being legally defined as chattel slaves.







