Final answer:
The Portuguese plantations in the new world led to a greater demand for enslaved African labor, particularly for the expanding sugar plantations after the enslavement of Native Indians was prohibited.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Portuguese profited from their plantations in the new world; this led to a greater demand for enslaved African labor. Expanding sugar plantations required a large workforce, and after the Catholic Church prohibited the enslavement of Native Indian people, this labor primarily came from Africa.
Africans were known for their skills in agriculture, including animal husbandry, which were vital for the success of cash crops. The Portuguese played a significant role in the Atlantic slave trade, establishing plantations and trading enslaved people to other European colonies, which were integral in the production of sugar, coffee, rice, and ultimately cotton.