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First wave of European colonization

The first wave of European colonization began with Spanish and Portuguese conquests and explorations, and primarily involved the European colonization of the Americas, though it also included the establishment of European colonies in India and in Maritime Southeast Asia. During this period, European interests in Africa primarily focused on the establishment of trading posts there, particularly for the African slave trade. The wave ended with the British annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 and the founding of the colony of Singapore in 1819.

This article is about the early colonization by Spain and Portugal in the Americas. For the American colonialism by the Vikings before this, see Norse colonization of North America.

The time period in which much of the first wave of European colonization (and other exploratory ventures) occurred is often labeled the Age of Discovery. A later major phase of European colonization, which started in the late 19th-century and primarily focused on Africa and Asia, is known as the period of New Imperialism.

Role of companies in early colonialism[edit]

From its very outset, Western colonialism was operated as a joint public-private venture. Columbus' voyages to the Americas were partially funded by Italian investors, but whereas the Spanish state maintained a tight rein on trade with its colonies (by law, the colonies could only trade with one designated port in the mother country and treasure was brought back in special convoys), the English, French and Dutch granted what were effectively trade monopolies to joint-stock companies such as the East India Companies and the Hudson's Bay Company. The Massachusetts Bay Company, founded in 1628/9, swiftly established a form of self-governance following the Cambridge Agreement of August 1629, whereby subsequent meetings of the board of governors took place in Massachusetts itself.

Economic pursuit and treatment of slaves[edit]

Spain and Portugal sought the utilization of foreign and indigenous peoples during post colonial contact with the New World. The Portuguese and Spanish use of slavery in Latin America was seen as a lucrative business which ultimately led to internal and external development in gaining economic influence at any cost. The economic pursuits of the Spanish and Portuguese empires ushered in the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade.


In the fifteenth century, Portugal shifted its attention to the latter economic endeavor. Their ships sailed from the borders of the Sahara desert to the entirety of the West African coast.[5]: 33  At the outset of the Atlantic Slave Trade, Manuel Bautista Pérez, a notable Portuguese-born Marrano Jewish slave trader, gives insight to the amount and treatment of the African slaves. Pérez and his men conducted slave trading in which thousands of African peoples were bought from local tribal leaders and transported across the Atlantic to South America. In contrast from popular belief, Portuguese slave traders did not acquire slaves in a forceful manner. According to documents written by Manuel Pérez, slaves were only made available by certain conditions. The most notable condition was bartering “items that the leaders wanted and were interested in”.[5]: 39  Items such as bread, coal, precious stones, and firearms were provided in exchange for slaves. Furthermore, local tribal leaders did not simply give up their own people for the aforementioned commodities but rather through intertribal wars, debts, and civil crime offenders.[5]: 54 


Labor in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies became scarce. European diseases and forced labor began killing the indigenous people in insurmountable numbers. Therefore, slaves were seen only as a business venture due to the labor shortages. These slaves were forced to work in jobs such as agriculture and mining. According to David Eltis, areas controlled by the Spanish such as Mexico, Peru, and large parts of Central America used forced slave labor in "mining activities".[6] In 1494 the Pope ushered in the Treaty of Tordesillas, granting Spain and Portugal two separate parts of the world.[7] Due to this treaty, Portugal had the monopoly on acquiring the slaves from Africa. However, Spain, like Portugal, needed the labor force to pursue their personal economic gains.[5]: 20  This gave Portugal an increased revenue stream. African slaves were sold to the Spanish colonies through an internal reform known as the asiento; which gave the right, by the Spanish Crown, for acquiring African slaves from the Portuguese traders.


In terms of the treatment of slaves, Portuguese external policies on the acquisition of slaves depict a malicious attempt to obtaining economic wealth. Nearly 3,600 slaves a year were traded by a single trader.[5]: 68  This latter statement illuminates that traders tried to get as many slaves as they could in the shortest amount of time. Consequently, this led to the deaths of thousands of African peoples. Newly bought slaves were kept tightly packed in highly flammable huts in order to wait for transport. Once aboard the ships many hundreds of people would once again be shoved into lower ship compartments, collectively chained up, and given little to eat. By these actions "nearly a quarter of the slaves transported died before ever reaching the destination".[5]: 72  Many of them suffocated in the lower compartments as the hatches upon the deck remained closed; restricting the circulation of air. Slaves were often branded with a mark upon their skin to identify either the ship they arrived on or the company that purchased them. In addition, the slaves were seen as a "potentially economic utility"; therefore they were often equated to cattle when moved about.[8] Many African people died in large numbers in order to meet the demand for Spanish and Portuguese labor requirements.


Both Spain and Portugal share a similar history in regards to the treatment of slaves in their colonies. As time progressed and new generations of slaves lived under imperial rule, Spanish and Portuguese internal reforms dealt with African slaves in areas such as, "the purchasing and selling of slaves, legal ownership, succession upon death of owner, the rights of slaves to buy their liberty, and penalties to those who ran away".[9] There was a constant strict social control amongst the slave population. Nevertheless, the goal was to create and sustain a labor force that would yield maximum economic output. The lucrative business the Portuguese sought on the West African coast ushered in an era in which human labor, at any cost, was used for the extraction of wealth.

Timeline of European imperialism