Between 1670 and 1710, more enslaved Indigenous people are exported from the American colonies than Africans are imported. The first strategy of enslavement in the Americas initially focuses on trading enslaved Indigenous people between the colonies, before this is replaced by an expansion of the African slave trade. The eventual shift towards Africa will be in part a means of evading agreements and treaties forbidding enslavement on Native land.

The enslavement of Indigenous people often has different names, but is composed of many of the same elements as the enslavement of Africans: removing people from their native lands, forcing them to labor, surveilling their social gatherings, and forbidding cultural practices.