South American imperialism dramatically changed the economy for the native people of South America and thus changed the way that they lived their lives. A first example of an institution that drastically changed lives economically after the start of imperialism was the large increase in slavery. During the era of imperialism in South America, there was a large decline of the native population and unfortunately the Spanish that came to America didn't have a lot of knowledge about agricultural and mining. Large estate owners, also called hacendados, solved the need for a regular supply of labor by contracting directly with Indians, often paying less than they would with men from Spain. In time, free wage labor replaced the most common kind of labor in South America, and that form of labor was repartimiento labor. This increase of jobs for the natives of South America definitely helped these people economically. No they weren't getting paid a lot for the jobs that they did, but they were given more than if they had no job at all. A second part of slavery that greatly affected the economic situation of the people was the increased involvement in the Slave Trade. It is well known that before the Portuguese voyages of discovery in the early fifteenth century, slavery in western Europe had declined from it's prominence in the latter stages of the Roman Empire to a marginal place in European social and economic life. But the Portuguese trader's explorations of Africa's Atlantic coast introduced them to the continent's indigenous slave trade, and by the fifteen hundreds, thousands of African slaves were interring the Iberian Peninsula each year. Thus by the time that Columbus sailed, it is safe to say that the Slave trade was well established in South America. The introduction of sugar cultivation for the eastern Mediterranean to Madeira and the Canary Islands hastened the adaptation of Iberian institutions and social forms to the special requirements of a colonial economic environment.
