Final answer:
The first race to experience slavery in the New World included both Native Americans and Africans, but Africans were subjected to racial chattel slavery, a practice solidified by the Portuguese and expanded by other Europeans like the British, which was based on racial hierarchy and lifelong heritable servitude.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first race to experience slavery in the New World was not exclusively one group, as both Native Americans and Africans were subjected to forms of slavery early on. However, racial slavery as an institution that was codified and rigorously structured, particularly in the context of chattel slavery which treated enslaved people as personal property, was most markedly imposed on Africans. This form of slavery was fundamentally different from other instances because it was heritable (passed from mother to child) and often endured for a lifetime, establishing a rigid and enduring racial hierarchy.
The Portuguese were one of the first to engage in the transatlantic slave trade, setting up forts along the West African coast. European participation in African slavery evolved beyond mere economics, intertwining deeply with emerging concepts of racial superiority and difference. The transatlantic slave trade led by Europeans such as the Portuguese and later the British, perpetuated a system of slavery where African individuals were considered chattel and subjected to lifelong, heritable servitude, contrasting with more temporary forms of servitude that had existed previously.