Where were the first colonies in North America?
Following the arrival of Columbus in the New World, explorers viewed America as an obstruction in their voyages to trade in the Far East. It was not until 100 years after Columbus that people realized it might be worth settling in North America.
The original English colony, in Virginia, was settled in 1607. The colony just managed to survive in the face of disease, starvation and attacks by Native Americans. By 1612 tobacco was being cultivated and was successfully exported to Europe.
Why was the slave trade established?
There was huge demand for sugar in Europe when tea and coffee became fashionable drinks. Sugar cane grew well in the West Indies, where huge plantations were established. To provide workers for these plantations and for tobacco plantations on the American mainland, huge numbers of slaves were imported from West Africa. They were bought from Arab slave traders or local chieftains and shipped in conditions of terrible suffering.
The traders paid for their slaves with goods from England, which in turn were paid for by sugar from the West Indies. In this way a triangular trading route was established, taking goods from England to Africa, slaves from Africa to the West Indies and sugar from the West Indies to England.
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