sentences:  African slaves were forced to work in gold mines, on sugar cane plantations, cattle ranches, and large haciendas.African labor was essential in all the regions of Colombia, even until modern times.African workers pioneered the extracting of alluvial gold deposits and the growing of sugar cane in the areas that correspond to the modern day departments of Chocó, Antioquia, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Nariño in western Colombia.