MaddisonDIorio

PamMason
BrookeSaiter
SanjulaYella
Dutton1st

AN ESSAY ON MULTIRACIAL ISSUES :

While in todays world we dont often like to think about it, multiracial issues
concerning slavery and native peoples were very much a part of early American
society, both in North and South America. With the arrival of the Europeans, the
lives of millions were forever changed, and thrust into a new social system which
prevailed for many years following, a social system that still very much affects our
view of the world today.
Looking first at North America, it is easy to point out how much race
affected the new societies being created by the Europeans. The Native Americans,
who were, of course, already in the New World, were impacted most drastically. All
of the European groups treated these people differently, though, but none of the
outcomes were particularly positive. The Spanish, after arrival, had no care for any
of the native Indians, and conquered as many as possible. Especially the Aztecs,
who were killed at the hands of the Spaniards either by germs or steel. The
English were much of the same, forcing the Native Americans to move off of the
coast of which they now inhabited, and re-settle inland, which was much less
fertile. They viewed the tribes as inferior peoples, and even savages. The French
and Dutch werent quite as harsh, the French choosing to treat Native Americans
as economic and military allies (especially with their new fur trapping businesses),
and used them a great deal in later conflicts such as the Seven Year War. The
Dutch traded liberally with the Native Americans, and mainly allowed them to stay

MaddisonDIorio
PamMason
BrookeSaiter
SanjulaYella
Dutton1st

on their lands, which was very much opposite to their English and Spanish
counterparts.
Not all of the race issues stemmed from those who were already in the New
World, of course. Slavery was a huge sector of the Americas economies and
culture, and lasted for centuries. In North America, Africans were brought to the
New World starting in 1619 to Jamestown to help with producing tobacco. This
trend of slave farmers traveled south as the colonies began to form in North
America, and much of the economic gain of the South was due to African slaves.
These slaves were treated extremely poorly, from the crammed trip across the
Atlantic they were forced to make, the auction blocks, and the many horrors they
often faced in plantations. These assets, called Black Gold, were exactly that,
assets. Capital for the landowners, and treated as nothing more.
The societies of South America were not void of race issues, most likely, the
had even more. Latin America (mainly Mexico) formed a strict social caste (or,

casta)
system that included four main races:
Peninsular
(a Spaniard who was born in
Spain),
Criollo
(a person with Spanish descent born in the Americas),
Indio
(a
person who is native to Mesoamerica), and
Negro
(a person of African slave
descent). This became further complicated when Spaniards began having children
with native peoples, creating a new race:
Mestizos.
Going further south, more
problems arose. Guyana had massive racial tensions between the Indo-Caribbean
and Afro-Caribbean peoples, Bolivia actively discriminated against those with 100%
native blood, and only white-blooded Columbians could be granted wealth or

MaddisonDIorio
PamMason
BrookeSaiter
SanjulaYella
Dutton1st

prestige within the rigid social structures set in place. Slavery was also
extremely
prevalent in South America, overwhelmingly so in Columbia. The country very much
relied on African slaves for their sugar, gold, and diamond industries, and this
lasted all the way up until 1888, making Columbia the last American nation to outlaw
slavery. Some four millions slaves were shipped to Columbia from Africa, which was
about 40% of the total slave imports to the New World.
In todays society, we dont often like to mention just how bad racial issues
used to be. Its difficult to discuss the horrors that went on in the continents we
now call home, and even more difficult to know just how much of todays society
was build on the backs of terrorized native peoples and forced slavery by Africans.
Even though slavery was completely outlawed in Europe by 1807, many American
countries still had decades more of the practice, along with other events such as
the Trail of Tears, to come. Its a truly sad fact, but a topic that we must think
about, and repeat never again.