History of slavery in Louisiana
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The history of slavery in Louisiana reaches to the earliest dates of European settlement in the present-day U.S. state.
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[edit] French rule
Chattel slavery was introduced by the French settlers in Louisiana in 1706, when bloody raids on Chitimacha settlements were conducted; this resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, with the claiming of a few surviving women and children as slaves. The enslavement of natives, including the Atakapa, Bayougoula, Natchez, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Taensa, and Alabamon peoples would continue throughout the history of French rule.
African chattel slaves were introduced in 1710, when a number of them were captured as plunder by the French army during the War of the Spanish Succession. The mass importation of slaves to Louisiana took place between 1717-1721, when over 2,000 slaves were loaded to New Orleans harbor by at least eight boats. The death toll for both African and native slaves was immensely high, abetted by scurvy and dysentery; the primary African shipment was cut in half by such diseases.
[edit] U.S. rule
The demand for slavery increased among U.S. settlers in Louisiana following two main events: the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the invention of the cotton gin (1793). This severely raised the interests of slaveowners who were searching for a valuable cash crop besides such staples as sugar, which was particularly predominant in southern Louisiana. The Northern area of the state became another outpost for the "cotton empire" which soon encompassed neighboring states, such as Alabama and Texas.
[edit] See also
[edit] Links
- Anonymous Louisiana slaves regain identity
- An article on the alliance between Louisiana natives and maroon Africans against the French colonists
- Agrarian life in Antebellum Louisiana
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