The use of African people as slaves increased in the Americas during the 1500s due to several factors, including the need for labor in agriculture and mining, the decline of the indigenous population due to diseases brought by Europeans, and the availability of enslaved Africans through the transatlantic slave trade. Europeans also held racist beliefs about African people, viewing them as inferior and suitable for enslavement. Finally, the development of a plantation economy in the Americas further increased the demand for African slaves to provide cheap labor for large-scale agricultural production.
