Final answer:
African slaves were preferred as laborers on American plantations over indentured servants or Native Americans due to factors such as the decline of Native populations from disease, the scalability of enslavement over indentured servitude, and racialized ideologies that justified the inhumane system.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the colonization of the Americas, the demand for labor on plantations such as cotton and sugar grew immensely. African slaves were used primarily for forced labor instead of indentured servants or Native Americans because of several reasons. First, many Native Americans died from diseases brought by the Europeans, and those that survived were often able to escape because they were familiar with the land. Indentured servitude was initially used, but as European demand for the resources of the Americas grew, the system was not sufficient to meet the labor demands.
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade provided a more reliable and abundant labor force. Africans were seen as unfamiliar with the territory and, therefore, less likely to escape. They were also viewed as more immune to European diseases than Native Americans. Moreover, a racialized system of slavery became established, where Europeans rationalized the enslavement of Africans through racial theories and the idea of bringing Christianity to them. Ironically, conversion to Christianity was not widespread as the focus was on maximizing profits rather than missionary work.
The cruel conditions under which African slaves were transported and sold, including physical, mental, and sexual violence, were part of a strategy to maintain control and dominance by European traders and slaveholders. Africans resisted enslavement at every opportunity, although these acts of resistance were often met with harsh punishment. The conditions they were forced to endure during the march to the coast and aboard the slave ships were meant to maximize profit by keeping them alive and, paradoxically, in a condition acceptable to buyers.