Next Big Book Thing: You Cannot Find Peace Until You Find All The Pieces by Marie Maiden

In 1607, Virginia was neither a haven for religious freedom, nor a penal colony. It was an extension of the British Empire. It was a colony set up to make money for the mother country, England, and Virginia gained its wealth from the full-scale exploitation of slaves.

In the seventeenth century, Europeans began to establish settlements in the Americas. The English settlers divided their land into smaller units and ran them under private ownership. This division of land functioned as a plantation system.

At first, all slaves came directly to colonial Virginia from the West Indies. Later, slaves came to Virginia by way of three possible routes: direct from Africa, direct from the West Indies, or from another established settlement, often times a plantation. Before 1680, historical records indicate that black slaves came to Virginia directly from Barbados. At that time, it was very rare to have a slave ship come to the United States directly from Africa.

Between 1699 and 1703, historical records show that thirty- two slave ships entered Virginia from Barbados, Jamaica, and Nevis. The slave trade route between the West Indies and Virginia was separate and distinct from the African slave-trading route. Overall, the practice of slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas touched the lives of approximately 12.1 million enslaved people and their descendants.

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The masters of the slaves saw it as an economic necessity. There was a great need for physical labor in the planting, harvesting, and managing of the plantations. The slave trade developed into a sophisticated, albeit inhuman, chain of supply and demand.

Ship builders built the slave ships for the voyage. Manufacturers provided goods for trade. Agents insured the items and bankers financed the whole enterprise through loans and mortgages. Sugar refineries and clothing manufacturers functioned at full capacity to keep the supply up. The expansion of the plantation system increased the demand. This highly profitable system brought vast economic wealth to Europe, America, and many other countries.