International Society for Jazz Research

The appearance of European peoples in Africa and in America, during the fifteenth century, was induced by economic factors. The Transatlantic trade consisting of booty and raw materials, ended the thousands year long history of the Mediterranean as the ocean of the ancient world. The Transatlantic trade introduced modern economic and power politics. With its help, from the sixteenth century on, the American colonial territory was outfitted with manpower. For centuries manpower was provided in the status of slaves.

The European peoples had different forms of human dependence systems in their history. At the time of American colonization, these systems were in very different stages of development. Of special importance in the history of American slavery are the dependency systems of the Iberian peoples. The varying European traditions introduced in America, produced slave systems which greatly differed from one another. Their most important characteristics and differences are discussed. A special section is devoted to the forms of Afro-American family structures, during and after slavery.

Certain behavioural forms of American slaves trace their origins to traditions of their native countries. It is therefore useful to include the African slave systems and traditions, as far as our knowledge of them allows, in the study of Afro-American social and cultural history.