Labor Systems and Economic Systems - AP World History: Modern

During the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, West Africa was the primary region from which Europeans acquired the large numbers of slaves used for agricultural labor throughout the Western Hemisphere. Though some slaves were also acquired from East Africa, far fewer were sent to the New World.

Sadly, the Renaissance era’s humanistic philosophy did not extend to the institution of slavery. Europe had a long slave-holding tradition, stretching back to the mass slave markets run by Viking warriors to the ancient Roman and Greek practices of selling prisoners of war. Enslaved individuals came from many ethnic groups across Europe, Asia, and Africa – including Greeks, Russians, Persians, Tatars, Irish, Africans, and Serbs. This practice continued unabated through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, especially in cases of warfare, where it was established practice for the victorious army to seize captives from the both military and civilian populations to sell in various slave markets. The wholesale devastation of the Black Death heightened the popularity of slavery among Europeans even further, as the demand for laborers rose in the wake of all the plague’s mass casualties. The most common form of slavery was domestically based, in which slaves lived, worked, and served in a household, performing various duties such as cooking, cleaning, farming, and caring for livestock. The Middle Ages and the Renaissance saw the development of plantation style slavery, in which groups of slaves were used in tandem to grow sugarcane on the various Mediterranean islands. In most cultures, including the birthplace of the Renaissance itself, slaves had no legal standing or protection under the law whatsoever; their owners were free to treat their slaves however they pleased, largely without fear of reprisal from any government figures or religious institutions.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Central and Eastern Europe was not nearly as economically prosperous or as advanced as Western Europe. This unfortunate situation was due to a combination of several factors. First of all, the region’s economic system was overwhelmingly based on agriculture; manufacturing, artisanship, and other rising capitalist endeavors hadn’t taken hold here. While Western Europe was seeing rapid urban growth and expansion, Central and Eastern Europe had very few cities. In fact, most of the land in the region was made up of large estates, with an even larger population of serfs who spent their entire lives working the land. This sort of economic setup didn’t allow for any empire building, so while Spain, England, and France were seizing land in the New World, Central and Eastern European leaders couldn’t even consider such a possibility. As for overseas trade, this region hardly engaged in the practice either, which further impoverished and isolated the area. An additional history of local military disputes, conflicts, and disregard for authority prevented any notable measures of economic reform and/or stability from taking hold.

The conditions of slaves in the Caribbean were probably worse than they were anywhere else in the world, with the possible exception of slaves in Portuguese Brazil. Slaves in the Caribbean worked on extremely labor-intensive sugar plantations and were considered as expendable labor due to the ready and continuous supply of new slaves arriving from Africa.

The Encomienda System was established by Spanish colonists in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was an economic and political system that allowed for the effective enslavement of the native population.

Mercantilism was the prevailing economic theory in Europe during the first few centuries of European colonialism, before it was replaced in the eighteenth century by free market capitalism. Mercantilism involves strict government control over the economy and proposes that the government regulate large-scale economic ventures for the purposes of enhancing state power. It also involves the establishment of colonies for the purpose of extracting raw resources (particularly gold and silver), which can be used to directly enrich the metropole. Mercantilism, by its very nature, is competitive and led to many wars between competing European powers.

The Repartimiento System was employed in many parts of Spanish colonial America after the abuses of the Encomienda System had been brought to light. The Repartimiento System differed in that the natives were no longer enslaved, but instead were forced to work for several months of the year in slave-like conditions.

It is estimated that during the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade, which lasted from the sixteenth century until the early nineteenth century, approximately ten million Africans were enslaved and forcibly transported across the Atlantic to work and die in the Americas.

The textile industry - the production of clothes and other fabrics - was the first industry to be revolutionized by the Industrial Revolution. Previously, much of the work of the textile industry had been carried out in people’s homes (what is called the Cottage Industry). At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, however, innovations in steam power and water mills dramatically altered the means of textile production.

Shoguns and Daimyos were the two ruling groups in Japanese feudal society. Shoguns were powerful military rulers, best understood as warrior-kings. Daimyos were wealthy, hereditary landowners. At various times in Japanese history these two groups worked together, fought against one another and fought amongst themselves for control of Japanese society.

Indentured labor, or indentured servitude, was most common in plantations in North America. Indentured servitude was a common way for poor Europeans to emigrate to the Americas. In exchange for an agreed upon period of labor, often three to seven years, a wealthy plantation owner would fund the passage of the worker to the New World. After working for the wealthy plantation owner for a number of years the worker would be able to set up a free life for himself in the Americas.

The Encomienda System was often vehemently opposed by Christian missionaries in the Spanish colonial empire who were appalled by the excesses and abuses of Spanish rule. Dominican and Franciscan friars were occasionally outspoken in their criticism of the realities of the Encomienda System.

A hacienda is the name given to a large estate or plantation in Spanish colonial America. The hacienda system prevailed throughout the vast majority of Spanish territory in Latin America.

The Encomienda System was used in the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries. The system is based on the forced labor of the native population. In theory the Spanish colonial rulers were meant to provide for the protection and conversion to Christianity of the native population in exchange for their labor, however in practice the native population suffered immensely at the hands of the Spanish rulers.

Whereas the Spanish relied primarily on the native labor force in their American colonies, the Portuguese relied heavily on African slaves shipped over to Brazil to work in the lucrative sugar plantations. Of course the Spanish also made extensive use of slaves and the Portuguese also exploited native labor, but each did so much less frequently than their counterparts.

The transformation thesis specifically refers to the theorized effect of the external slave trade on African societies. Proponents of the thesis argue that the external demand for slaves was the central force in intensifying and increasing the market for slaves in Africa. Critics of the thesis point to the existing internal African slave trade as a key part of the market and argue that European involvement did not fundamentally transform it.

Adam Smith is widely held to be the 'father of modern capitalism'. His philosophical treatises on concepts such as the wealth of nations, personal self-interest, and trading laid the framework for the economic system that would become known as capitalism.

With the growth of factories and workhouses in the booming industrial cities, women and children were able to work, and were often prized above men by unethical employers because they could be treated less humanely, and their more delicate fingers were perfect for working the complicated machinery.

Largely due to its political independence, Japan was able to industrialize as early as some European countries. Subsaharan Africa was under the domination of the French and British, who orientated African economies towards the cultivation of natural resources for British and French industrial capital, rather than creating their own. Latin America, under the Spanish, was also barred from participating in the industrial revolution, as was Central Asia under Russian influence.

Smith believed that the economy should be driven by the market place with no outside interference. The idea was that people should push the economy to fill their needs while also determining what should not be in the economy. They would do this by buying the supplies they chose from the retailers they chose.