"Convergence Digest" is a daily classic, not seen or scattered.
Xiaobian gives you a little common sense of popular science, in fact, as early as the Jin Dynasty, The history of China recorded the existence of black people. At that time, most of the blacks came from Southeast Asia, they were called Kunlunnu, because most of them were Southeast Asians, although the skin was relatively dark, but most of them were not all pure blacks, there were also a small number of pure blacks, but because of the scarcity of the number, they were only for the rich and powerful nobles.
Ancient books of the Jin Dynasty record that the birth mother of Sima Yao, the famous Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty, that is, Empress Li, was black and thin and very small during the palace period, living like a black monkey. The word "Kunlun" often denoted black, with some pejorative connotations, and some palace ladies and eunuchs who chewed on the root of people's tongues behind their backs gave Empress Li a nickname of Kunlun. Those palace eunuchs never expected that Sima Yu, the king of huijian, would look at this little black palace girl, and within a few years after marriage, Empress Li gave birth to a boy, and the mother and son were expensive, and soared. Since then, more and more people have used "Kunlun" to refer to the meaning of dark skin.
Originally, "Kunlun" already had some derogatory meanings of ridicule and contempt, and "Kunlun Nu" was even more contemptuous. Although there was a precedent for the employment of Kunlun slaves in ancient China, the history of hiring black slaves depends on Europe and the United States. According to historical records, since the 16th century, many capitalist countries in Europe and the United States have begun the slave trade, and the black triangle trade between Europe, the United States and Africa has quietly prevailed. At this time, small countries such as Portugal and Hungary also launched a colonial expansion campaign in turn, using the vast lands of the Americas to start digging gold mines and mining plantations, and these rich people needed many, many cheap slaves to work. Money can make ghosts grind, and profits drive these people to lose their lives and begin to extend their claws to the African continent, which has a large population and low employment costs. As a result, an industrial chain of interests was gradually formed, and more and more black people crossed the ocean and left their homeland to become slaves in the colonies.
From Africa to Europe and the Americas, it was necessary to cross the treacherous Atlantic Ocean, although the sea transport in Europe and the United States was very mature at that time, but due to the large population, safety was difficult to guarantee. So the colonists made a strange rule that black slaves should be stripped naked and covered with only a cloth to cover their private parts, so that they could only stay in a fixed place. This kind of rule sounds very strange, why trample on the self-esteem of others like this? The reason is actually quite simple:
The first point is from a health point of view, they are designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Due to the trade ships in the triangle region, coupled with the lack of attention to hygiene and the spread of disease, there were many viruses and pathogens endemic to Africa, and many black slaves carried the virus themselves and became carriers of the virus, and they brought the virus to all parts of Europe. Yellow fever has been prevalent in Africa for many years, and antibodies to yellow fever have basically evolved in the body of black people. However, when the yellow fever virus was introduced to Europe and the United States through black slaves, there were no antibodies in the European and American people, and many people died. The colonists, not wanting to abandon the sought-after slave business, could only guarantee their health as best they could.
But why don't you give good clothes even if you take off your clothes? In fact, it is the improper thinking of capital operation, the colonists' hearts are always interests first, human rights are later, they will not waste a sum of money on the food, clothing, housing and transportation of black slaves, naturally the more money is saved, the better. In the eyes of the colonists, they were not human beings, just commodities, and they focused on how much work slaves could do, not how many people they were also human. With the progress of the times, the era of black slavery is getting farther and farther away from us.