Taking the history of what we now know as Venezuela into account, how did slavery contribute to the process of “primitive accumulation”? The major contribution of Venezuelan slavery, however, was that enslaved African workers in Venezuela, and their legally free descendants, built the country’s colonial economy and society. Venezuela’s cocoa industry flourished during the 18th century in lockstep with the importation of enslaved African peoples. This came off the backs of 75,000 enslaved African workers, many of whom toiled in Venezuela. It’s proved to be a more humane production method than African slavery in the Americas.