Slavery in Latin America

The African presence in Latin America has a profound affect on the culture from Mexico to the Bahamas and Brazil.  Black slaves and freedmen arrived in America during the early stages of exploration and settlement.  By the first decades of the sixteenth century they were regularly participating in Spain's military expeditions. Spaniards considered Indian workers to be weak and unreliable.  Whenever possible they would buy African slaves.  This lead to and increase in the importation of Africans.  As the agriculture of sugar and coffee increases, so did the demand for slaves.

Life was harsh for the slave in Latin America.  Some slaves did have more freedoms than the slaves of North America.  Marriage was allowed in some areas and some slaves were even taught to read and write.  In fact, Colonial Brazil had the highest recorded number of legal marriages among slave regions in Latin America. Whether in the city or on a plantation, slaves were at the mercy of their owners.   Runaways were common and even suicide was and answer for some.  Because most slaves were baptized upon arrival to the New World, the Catholic Church did come to the defense of slaves.  Some brotherhoods raised money to purchase the freedom of some of their slave members.  

Web: http://slavery2003.tripod.com/fromafricatoslavery/id6.html

Please watch the video and answer the questions.

Questions:

1. Who were the empires involved in the slave trade in Latin America?
2. Why did the above empires rely so much on slave labor?
3. Why from Africa and not Native Americans?
4. What was the triangular trade?
5. What was the Middle Passage?
6. When were slaves brought to Latin America?
7. Where were slaves located in Latin America? (Specific countries)
8. How did African slavery impact Latin America?