The slave trade in the Americas formally began on February 12, 1528 with the approval of the Emperor of the Germanic Roman Empire and king of Spain Charles V of Habsburg. The first beneficiaries of this authorization were two German merchants, Henri Ehinger and Jérome Sayler. Both were representatives of the Welsers, German bankers who dominated the finances of the Spanish crown alongside the Fuggers, together with the Genoese, they were pioneers of the slave trade to this region. However, it should be noted that both the Fuggers and the Welsers belong to the German companies of merchant bankers, who made their fortunes in the spice trade, mainly sugar and slaves, as they are the ones who introduced the first large sugar mills in the Americas and with it the slave trade. They had the monopoly on trafficking African slaves to the Americas. English slave traders erupted on the Caribbean scene from 1562 to 1569, with the arrival of John Hawkins. Germans did not abolish slavery in Tanganyika, only in 1922 when it became English. Servitude Ordinance of 1922 would effect a speedy decline of an already dying institution.1 Yet, only thirty years earlier under German colonial rule, slavery was a pervasive feature of most East African societies.
The slave trade in the Americas formally began on February 12, 1528 with the approval of the Emperor of the Germanic Roman Empire and king of Spain Charles V of Habsburg. The first beneficiaries of this authorization were two German merchants, Henri Ehinger and Jérome Sayler. Both were representatives of the Welsers, German bankers who dominated the finances of the Spanish crown alongside the Fuggers, together with the Genoese, they were pioneers of the slave trade to this region.
However, it should be noted that both the Fuggers and the Welsers belong to the German companies of merchant bankers, who made their fortunes in the spice trade, mainly sugar and slaves, as they are the ones who introduced the first large sugar mills in the Americas and with it the slave trade. They had the monopoly on trafficking African slaves to the Americas.
English slave traders erupted on the Caribbean scene from 1562 to 1569, with the arrival of John Hawkins.
Germans did not abolish slavery in Tanganyika, only in 1922 when it became English.
Servitude Ordinance of 1922 would effect a speedy decline of an already dying institution.1 Yet, only thirty years earlier under German colonial rule, slavery was a pervasive feature of most East African societies.