The decline in the indigenous population due to diseases and warfare led to a shortage of labor, prompting the colonizers to import enslaved Africans as a replacement workforce.

Spain was the first European country to establish a permanent slave trade in the Americas, beginning in the early 16th century.

The Middle Passage refers to the horrific journey that enslaved Africans were forced to endure during their transportation from Africa to the Americas.

Sugar was the primary cash crop cultivated by enslaved labor in the Americas, particularly in the Caribbean and Brazil.

The Haitian Revolution, led by Toussaint Louverture, was a successful slave rebellion that resulted in the abolition of slavery in Haiti and inspired abolitionist movements worldwide.

The Slavery Abolition Act, passed in 1833, abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, including its colonies in the Americas.

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing enslaved people in Confederate territories and marking a turning point in the American Civil War.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, with the Golden Law being passed in 1888.

Slave labor in the Americas had profound and lasting consequences, including economic disparities, social inequalities, cultural and ethnic diversity, and political instability.