explain why enslaving the indigenous peoples of the americas was largely unsuccessful in filling the need of the plantations. Support your answer by using at least one example of qualitative evidence and one example of quantitative evidence from las casas's writing given in unit 4m lesson 2 (slides 24-26). use complete sentences.
remember.
qualitative - relating to describing something in non-numerical terms
quantitative - relating to giving something a numerical value
Enslaving the indigenous peoples of the Americas was largely unsuccessful in filling the need of the plantations because of the high mortality rate among them due to harsh working conditions and mistreatment. For example, Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish historian and Dominican friar, documented in his writings the brutal treatment of the indigenous people by the Spanish colonizers. He described how they were forced to work long hours in the fields under extreme conditions, without proper food or rest, leading to many of them falling ill and dying.
Quantitative evidence from Las Casas's writings also supports the notion that the enslavement of indigenous peoples was not sustainable for plantation labor. In his account, Las Casas noted that the Spanish colonizers initially estimated that there were millions of indigenous people in the Americas, but within a few decades, their populations had drastically declined due to diseases brought over by the Europeans and the harsh conditions of forced labor. Las Casas reported that in Hispaniola alone, where the Spanish first settled, the indigenous population had decreased from around three million to just a few thousand within a short period of time.
Overall, the combination of qualitative evidence, such as accounts of mistreatment and harsh working conditions, and quantitative evidence, such as the drastic decline in indigenous populations, illustrates why enslaving indigenous peoples was largely unsuccessful in meeting the labor needs of the plantations.