82 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavementwere accustomed to surplus agricultural production, they
had built-in resistances to malaria and other tropical dis-
eases that had been transplanted to the Chesapeake, and
they had little knowledge of the lay of the land, which made
escaping a bit more diffi cult—though Punch’s case proved
that they did seek to abscond quite oft en.
For all these reasons, the Virginia General Court set a
precedent with John Punch. By making him a servant for
life, they paved the way for lifetime and intergenerational
servitude for all African Africans to furnish the colony with
a permanent labor supply
See also: Chesapeake Colonies; Freedom Dues; Indentured
Servitude; Racialized SlaveryKaren E. SuttonBibliography
Catterall, Helen Tunnicliff. Judicial Cases Concerning American
Slavery and the Negro. 5 vols. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie
institution of Washington, 1926–1937. Reprint, New York:
Negro Universities Press, 1968.
McIlwaine, H. R., ed. Minutes of the Council and General Court of
Colonial Virginia, 1 622– 1632 , 1 670– 1676 , with Notes and Ex-
cerpts from Original Council and General Court Records, into
1683 , Now Lost (Richmond, VA: Th e Colonial Press, Everett
Waddy, 1924).
Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: Th e
Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: Norton, 1975.Queen Nzinga (Njinga Mbande)
Queen Nzinga, also known as Njinga Mbande or Dona
Anna de Souza (1583–1663), was an African queen, diplo-
mat, and warrior from Angola who challenged Portuguese
control of her country in the 1600s through warfare and
diplomacy. Queen Nzinga was born among the Mbundu of
Ndongo of royal birth and seized power during the rise of
European expansion and trade into Africa, also known as
the time period of the Atlantic slave trade, roughly 1415 to- Challenges from the Portuguese and other European
powers such as the English and Dutch prompted a series of
reactions from the Kingdom of Ndongo. Th e Portuguese ar-
rived in the region ca. 1483 and managed to secure a coastal
colony at Luanda by 1575. Th e Portuguese in particular
exerted tremendous pressure on the Kingdom of Ndongo
through the person of Portuguese offi cial Bento Cardoso,
who devised a system in 1608 that demanded the delivery
Punch, John
John Punch (dates unknown) was at the center of a series
of events, which, in many ways, led the colony of Virginia
down the road to racialized slavery. In 1640, three inden-
tured servants ran away together to Maryland from Vir-
ginia. Th ey had the same owner, John Gwynn, a planter
on the Chesapeake Bay. By name and ethnic origin, they
were James Gregory, a Scotsman; Victor (no last name), a
Dutchman; and John Punch, an African. Offi cials captured
all three, returned them to Virginia, and placed them on
trial. On July 9, 1640, members of the Virginia General
Court handed down a landmark decision. Th ey sentenced
Gregory and Victor to receive 30 lashes each, and to com-
plete their contracted time and an additional year with their
master. Th en Gregory and Victor were to serve the entire
colony for another year. However, the court sentenced John
Punch, the African, to serve Gwynn for the rest of his life.
Th us, John Punch became the fi rst African to be a slave for
life, by law, in Virginia.
Before this, Africans were indentured servants, simi-
lar to whites. Both toiled in the fi elds equally oppressed.
Th e crop in those fi elds was tobacco. Growing tobacco was
very labor-intensive. Moreover, just like today’s businesses,
17th-century planters wanted the greatest profi t at the least
expense.
Labor was the largest expense for tobacco planters in
the Chesapeake. A captive labor force was the most cost-
eff ective way to get the job done. Initially white planters
had all white indentured servants. However, the less for-
tunate Europeans were ill suited to the climate and work,
and servitude carried with it a time limit, an obligation to
pay freedom dues or money and tools to compete against
them. Next, the planters turned to Algonquians and other
Native Americans in the region to cultivate cash crops. Na-
tive Americans were accustomed to the climate, and that
contract carried no obligation of freedom. However, the
Native Americans were at home, and in their culture, fi eld-
work was women’s work. Men were hunters and anglers.
Th erefore, when white planters attempted to force Native
American men to work the fi elds, they refused to do what
they perceived to be women’s work and many of them ab-
sconded. Finally, the planters turned to Africans to supply
their labor force. Africans were, for a variety of reasons, seen
as a more than suitable labor force. Both men and women