In 3–5 sentences, explain why enslaving the Indigenous peoples of the Americas was largely unsuccessful in filling the need of the plantations. Support your answer by using one piece of qualitative and one piece of quantitative information from Las Casas’s writing.
Enslaving the Indigenous peoples of the Americas was largely unsuccessful in filling the need of the plantations due to the high mortality rate of the enslaved population. According to Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Indigenous peoples were subjected to harsh labor conditions and lacked immunity to the diseases brought by the Europeans, resulting in a significant decline in population. Las Casas states that out of a population of millions, only a few survived after several years of constant labor and mistreatment. This qualitative information highlights the devastating impact of enslavement on the Indigenous peoples. Additionally, Las Casas mentions that the Europeans had to resort to importing enslaved Africans because the Indigenous population was insufficient to meet the demands of the plantations. This quantitative information demonstrates that the enslavement of Indigenous peoples alone was not able to fulfill the labor needs of the plantations.
