Because slavery in the Americas was created from scratch, people struggled with questions of moral culpability and slave welfare

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The Portuguese and Spanish felt extra responsibility in the Caribbean because they had to write the original laws for the slave trade. This created discussions over different levels of culpability. However, some laws that appeared humanitarian were actually sound business decisions. For instance, keeping the natives healthy benefited both the dominican friars and the business people.

The Atlantic Slave Trade mixes centuries of human bondage with violence, economics, commerce, geo-political competition, liberty, morality, injustice, revolution, tragedy and bloody reckonings. That sounds like a lot, yet this show merely scratches the surface of this enormous subject.