Final answer:
In the 1460s, the Portuguese initiated a system of labor on the Cape Verde Islands by using African slaves, setting a precedent that would be later adopted in the New World. This system was established to meet the labor demands for plantation agriculture and was later replicated by other European nations in their colonies.
a is correct
Step-by-step explanation:
In the 1460s, the Portuguese began to staff the Cape Verde Islands' sugar plantations with a labor force that would later be transferred to the New World. This labor force comprised of African slaves who were taken from their homeland and brought to work on the plantations. The use of African slaves for labor was justified by the Europeans under the pretext of the enslaved being non-Christians, a rationale that facilitated the denial of their rights and exposed them to extreme conditions of violence and oppression.
Subsequently, the Portuguese expanded their slave trade to meet the labor demands in the Americas. They established a plantation economy that heavily relied on African enslaved labor to grow cash crops like sugar and tobacco for the European market. Over time, this system was adopted by other European powers, which led to the widespread establishment of racially based slavery in European colonies in the New World such as Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.