Their investment in human labour continued and grew and in 1488, the profit margins generated were so large that they almost solely funded the Christian nation's war against Islam in North Africa. By the 1500's the monarch was earning over 2 million reis from the slave trade through taxation alone5 and so by royal decree the first major factor that changed the face of the slave trade and the global economy was implemented. ... The total number of slaves imported by the Portuguese is estimated at around 4.2 million- excluding those who met their fatal end during the middle passage- a...

• Word Count: 2679
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate