Indentured Servitude in Europe and the Americas...

[neotoma]

When did indentured servitude as a widespread phenomena die out in Europe? I know that it was in place in the early 1600s, because the first blacks in Jamestown came over as indentured servants, not as slaves. But when did it die out in Europe, and when did immigrants stop coming as indentured servants to America (and Canada, if that happened)?

Also, did enslaving other Europeans die out -- with the coming of Christianity, or when Africa was opened up to exploration and exploitation and there was suddenly a new and cheaper supply of slaves?

I'm thinking of writing a Marvel-1602, and I think that would greatly influence the story.

Comments

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude

Does that help?

When in doubt, consult wiki.

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

Slavery turned into serfdom after the decline of the Roman Empire, and it lasted until the 19th century. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom
The curch did not fight slavery, on the contrary, the early ecclasiastical councils dealt in great length with the question how they could keep their slaves and property, and during the middle ages they enforced serfdom whereever they founded a monastery, forcing the freemen to become serfs. Somewhere I read that there's a saying in English "neighbours as bad as the White Friars" that refers to this practise.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

So would Germans and Poles have come over to America to escape their status as serfs to the church?

[gwendolen.livejournal.com]

By the end of the 19th century serfdom was almost gone. In Western Europe it began ending after the Renaissance, was gone most definitely after the French Revolution in France and I think the end of it in Eastern Europe was the October Revolution.

There were almost no African slaves in Europe. Those that were around (for example at the French or English court) were more curiosities than anything else. Also the whole agriculture system was organized differently than in the US (no huge cotton or tobacco plantations for example) so the available workforce were mostly enough. Or rather there were people around than food was available.