During the American Civil War, General Benjamin Butler so appreciated the heroic actions of Afric
Slave Shackles
Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
1/27/2009
In the 15th century, decades before they sailed into the Caribbean, Spanish merchants, captains, and adventurers had already conquered and enslaved the people of the Canary Islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. On the western coast of continental Africa, the Portuguese had been cultivating a slavery-based economic policy. This legacy of conquest and slavery shaped the colonization of Puerto Rico and other islands in the Caribbean. Some of the first American encounters between Europeans, Indians, and Africans took place in Puerto Rico, and its early history of genocidal violence and physical exploitation was repeated throughout the Americas.
National Standards
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
2: How political, religious, and social institutions emerged in the English colonies
3: How the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies, and how slavery reshaped European and African life in the America
Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
2: The impact of the American Revolution on politics, economy, and society
3: The institutions and practices of government created during the Revolution and how they were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the foundation of the American political system based on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
2: How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions
3: The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800
4: The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period
World History Standards (Grades 5-12)
Era 6: The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770
2: How European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication, 1450-1750
3: How large territorial empires dominated much of Eurasia between the 16th and 18th centuries
4: Economic, political, and cultural interrelations among peoples of Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1500-1750
5: Transformations in Asian societies in the era of European expansion
6: Major global trends from 1450-1770
Era 7: An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914
2: The causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, 1700-1850
3: The transformation of Eurasian societies in an era of global trade and rising European power, 1750-1870
4: Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914
5: Patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic domination, 1800-1914
6: Major global trends from 1750-1914