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 4, 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
(3 points)
Enslaving the Indigenous peoples of the Americas was largely unsuccessful in filling the need of the plantations because of the high mortality rates among the enslaved individuals. One example of qualitative evidence from Las Casas's writing is when he describes the conditions in which the Indigenous people were kept: "They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. but their hearts melted because they were treated worse than mules." This quote demonstrates the inhumane treatment that the Indigenous people faced, leading to their physical and emotional deterioration.
Furthermore, quantitative evidence from Las Casas's writing shows the significant decrease in the Indigenous population due to the harsh conditions of enslavement. Las Casas notes that "So universal were the death and destruction visited on the natives by blows and overwork that, within a few decades, not a single soul of them remained alive." This statistic highlights the devastating impact of slavery on the Indigenous population, leading to a drastic decrease in their numbers and ultimately making them an unsustainable labor force for the plantations.