The Colonistsand
Why They Came
LessonOutline
VOCABULARY
Who came to the
<olonies in the
ea y 1700sand
why?
. i-alor'r} Fe'r'eI
- lflie 5 a.re lir!.le
slavetrade
autobiography
I
PEOPLE
olau d a hEq u iano
F{flf{iSNii'xe{t
5TA?ATi:SY
Makea <hartlikethis
and
on€.Compare
(ontrast
voya9e
the
serofindentured
withthatof
vants
(aptives
enslaved
fromAfrica.
Bythe1700smanypeoplewerecomingto the
"Youwoulddo wellto adviseallpoorpeople
colonies.
to takecourageandcometo thiscountry,"saidone
Duringthis
colonistin a letterto hiscousinin Scotland.
hadweakened
time,warsandpoorharvests
many economiesin Europe.Not all
peoplecameundertheir own free
will.Somepoorpeopleand
prisoners
cameto America
asindenturedservants.
cameascaptives.
Africans
who(ametothe
illostpeople
(olonies
worked
hardtobuild
newlives.
S-.:=ez;
,.,
YouAr€Hele
1700
-1750
COLONYFEVER
-lhe l3 coloniesusualJy
offereda better
isayoflife for the Europeanswho chose
ro come.The promiseof cheapland,
greateropportunityto eam a living, and
religiousfreedomIed manyin Europeto
leavetheir homes.
Hard timescausedso many peopleto
leavethat by 1760Englandwassaidto
have"colonyfever" The Englishgovemmentbeganpassinglawsforbiddingpeople to leavethe country.Howeve!many
continuedto leaveseekinga betterlife in
-trecolonies.
TheVoyageWest
Thevoyageto the colonieswas dangerousand uncomfortable.It lastedfour
-ongmonthsand evenpeoplewho traveledin the bestquarterssufferedhardwerecrowded
Mostpassengers
shdps.
-f,etweenthe t\rvodecksof the ship. Inside
iherewaslittle air or light.The ceiling
iras only 4 '/, leet in height.The food was
\ 'Totethat the
no better.Onepassenger
-meatwasold and tainted,the bread
mouldyor wormy,the watersmeltvery
bad."The crowdedconditionscausedillnessesto spreadquicklyftom one person
ro another.Manypeopledid not suruive
rhetdp.
lndenturedServants
To pay the pdce oftheir passageto the
colonies,many Europeansbecame
indenturedsewants.In 1700,foul out of
everyfive immigrants in Maryland and
\rirginiawereindenturedservants.Some
ofthem had
hard lives with
little food and
harshtreatment.They
oftenmn
awayfrom
their employersto escape
suchtreatment, One
indentured
servant
wrote,"there
lisl nothing
to be gotten
herebut
sickness
and death.I
find lmyselfin] $eat gdef and misery."
Between1630and 1700half of all the
immigrantswho cameto the colonies
wereindenturedservants.Somewere
debtorsand convicts.Mostwereyoung
men betweenthe agesof 15 and 25 seeking a bellerli[e,The largestgroup of newcomerswho workedassenantsin the
coloniescamefrom England,Scotland,
Wales,and Germany,
otNo^
dIGL
*cj#l
lGtTlis"
whv did so manvEuropeans
:
makethe voyageto North
America?
iffiiondonund
otherdtiesadvertised
forcolonists.
201
sold to slave owners throughout the
colonies. Many ended up as enslaved
workers on the large farms of the Southern colonies.
The following excerpt ftom the
autobiography of Olaudah Equiano
(AFILuh dah ib kweeAH nah), descdbes
the horible conditions on the slaveships.
An autobiography is the story of a persons life, written by that person.
.;
.Hrr.ilArY
$ource:
i
i
fromtheAutobiogfaphy
excerpt
THE SLAVETRADE
In the 1600s,Europeansbegansetting
up tradingpostsin Africa.Rum,cloth,
guns,and other goodswerebroughtto
them and tradedfor captives.The slave
trade, or the businessofbuying and
famisellin g p e o pfo
l e r profi t.derLrol ed
in much of
lies,villages,and evento\'\'TIS
west Africa.In EastAfrica,Arabsalso
tradedin captives.
Raidsfor Captives
Familieswere taten from their homes
in raids or taken prisonerin wars
Afticansfought to gain captives.
Most of them were then forcedto
walk hundredsof miles to tbrts
on the coast.There,captives
weresoldand placedon ships.
One out of sevencaptivesdid
not survivethe oceanvoyage.
Thosecaptiveswho did survive
the voyagewere usuallytakento
the WestIndies,wherethey were
202
Equiano
of0laudah
- publishedin 1789
Thefirst thing l s{twwhenI arriued
&t thecoastwastheslaueship waiting
to Itick up its cargo.Thesight of the
slaueshipamazedme.Thisamazement turned to terror whenI was
carried on boqrd,we werepacked
rogetherin chainsso tightly we could
hardly moueor turn ouexThecramped
surrountlingsand thedeadlyheqt
almost suffoc&ted us,ManYslaues
fell sickand died. . . . Theonl,
reasonthey Luerepackedso
closelywas to increasethe
profitsof theslavedealers.
Whydid manycaptiveson
the shipget sickand die?
suffo<ated:preventedfrom
breaihing
llystery
PUTTIl{GIT TOGETHER
Equianowas awestAfticanwho was
avedin 1756when he was 11years
However,somehistoriansthink
no wasbom in SouthCarolina.It
be that Equianohead the Storyof
ftom others.
MiddlePassage
Peoplecameto the Bdtish coloniesfor
many reasons.Somecamefor religious
freedom.Otherscameto earna living.To
pay for the price of their voyage,many
poor peoplebecameindenturedsefl/ants.
Captivesfrom Aftica cameagainst
their will.
Most of the peoplewho cameto the
playedan
coloniesduringthe 1700s
importantrole in the developmentofthe
Englishcolonies.Theybuilt cities,towns,
and farms.Theystartedsmallbusinesses,
This traditionofpeople comingto our
countryto seeka betterlife continuesto
this day.
What effect did the slave
trade haveon WestAfrica?
ofa slaveship
model
under
shows
the(onditions
were(owded
hundreds
ofslaves
(left).
deck
for eachvocabulary
1 . Writeonesentence
term.
autobiography slavetrade
e
4@b
2. Whatwastradedfor humanbeingsheld
captivein Africa?
didpeoplemakethe
Forwhatreasons
voyageto NorthAmerica?
ethnicgroupscameto
WhatEuropean
in the 1700s?
NorthAmerica
comparethe voyageof indenturedservants
wassimilar?
to that of Africancaptives.What
Whatwasdifferent?
FindAfricaon theAtlasmapon page
fromwhichareasofAfrica
R-6.Research
peoplewerekidnapped
andsoldinto
Sravery.
St
who
,uooor"rou ur" a European
servant
wantsto become
an indentured
to payfor the voyageto the colonies.
yourreason
to a
Wlitea letterexplaining
friendor relative.
203