Final answer:
The initial use of enslaved Africans as a labor force began on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Sugar production demanded immense labor, leading to the exploitation of Africans who were forcibly brought to the Americas by Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, for this purpose.
Step-by-step explanation:
The use of enslaved Africans as a labor force initially began in the Americas on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The cultivation of sugar required a large labor force due to the labor-intensive nature of sugar production. The Portuguese, having already used enslaved African labor on sugar plantations off the coast of Africa, were among the first to bring enslaved Africans to the Americas, specifically to Brazil and the Caribbean, to work on sugar plantations. Over time, this system expanded to other European colonies in the Americas, including British, French, and Spanish territories.
The majority of enslaved Africans in the Americas were used to grow sugar rather than other crops such as wheat, tobacco, and rice, due to the high profitability of sugar as a cash crop. Enslaved Africans were preferred over indentured servants or Native Americans for several reasons, including their experience with agriculture, the visibility of their ethnicity which made it easier to control them, and the inhumane and unfounded beliefs that justified their exploitation as non-Christians and supposed inferior beings.