Slavery in The Spanish New World Colonies - Africans During The Spanish Conquest

Africans During The Spanish Conquest

The Spanish imported Africans as laborers to the Americas in 1502. They continued to import African slaves, generally buying them from Arab and Portuguese traders (the former also were transporting slaves to the West Indies and Americas.) The Spanish finally outlawed slavery in the 19th century in all colonies with the exceptions of Cuba and Puerto Rico. There it survived in a semi-legal state until being abolished in 1866 and 1863, respectively.

Most of the earliest black immigrants to the Americas were "Atlantic Creoles," as the charter generation is described by the American historian Ira Berlin. Mixed-race men of African and Portuguese/Spanish descent, some slaves and others free, sailed with Iberian ships and worked in the ports of Spain and Portugal; some were born in Europe, others in African ports as sons of Portuguese trade workers and African women. African slaves were also taken to Portugal, where they married local women. The mixed-race men often grew up bilingual, making them useful as interpreters in African and Iberian ports.

Estevanico, a black slave, survived the disastrous Narváez expedition from 1527 to 1536, when most of the men died. After they lost their ships, horses, equipment and finally most of the men, with three other survivors, he spent six years traveling overland from present-day Texas to Sinaloa and finally reaching the Spanish settlement at Mexico City. He learned several Native American languages in the process. He went on to serve as a well-respected guide. Later, while leading an expedition in what is now New Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Gold, he was killed in a dispute with the Zuñi local people.

Miguel Henríquez, known as the 'Black Demon', was a prominent black Spaniard who served as a buccaneer at Spain's service during the 17th century in the Caribbean waters. He was known for his brutality against British and Dutch prisoners.