Afro-Peruvian - Early History

Early History

The first African Peruvians and dominicans arrived with the conquistadors in 1521, to return permanently in 1525. One of the biggest import of African slaves occurred between 1529 and 1537 when Francisco Pizarro was granted permits to import 363 slaves to colonial Peru for public construction; building bridges and road systems. They fought alongside the conquistadors as soldiers and worked like personal servants and bodyguards. In 1533 Afro-Peruvian slaves accompanied Spaniards in the conquest of Cuzco. There were two types of black slaves that came to Peru: a common term used to designate blacks born in Africa was bozales("unskilled, untrained), which was also used in derogatory sense. These slaves could have been directly shipped from west or south-west Africa or transported from Spanish Indies and other Spanish colonies. Afro-Peruvians previously acculturated to Spanish culture and spoke Spanish were called "Ladinos". People of color performed a variety of skilled and unskilled functions that contributed to Hispanic colonization.

In urban areas Afro-Peruvians were cooks, laundresses, maids, handymen, gardeners. In some cases, they worked in the navy, hospitals, churches and charitable institutions. In 1587, 377 workers of African descent worked in the shipyards. The industry included significant number of blacks: quarries, kilns and various construction projects. The work that Spaniards performed would be insufficient to sustain the needs of the population, so blacks essentially kept the economy running. Gradually, Afro-Peruvians concentrated in specialized fields that drew upon their extensive knowledge and training in skilled artisan work and in agriculture. Within the social hierarchy of slave stratum, the black artisans took the highest position due to their skills. They worked in carpentry, tailoring, blacksmiths, swordsmiths and silversmiths. This group exerted more freedom than their fellow companions on large haciendas and in private households. Spanish small-business keeper would dispatch a whole team of servant-artisans to do a job independently and then return to their owner. Furthermore, as their prices rose, black artisans induced even better treatment and sometimes took a role of a low ranking employee. Skilled artistry constituted a major avenue of social progress for the colored population. Due to their royalty and high skills, Afro-Peruvians gained prestige among Spanish noblemen. They occupied relatively low social stratum, nevertheless still had some power of the natives and were in more favorable position that the emerging class of mestizos. As the mestizo population grew, the role of Afro-Peruvians as intermediaries between the indigenous residents and the Spaniards lessened. The mestizo population increased through liaisons between Spanish and indigenous Peruvians. From this reality, a pigmentocracy became increasingly important to protect the privileges of Spanish overlords and their Spanish and mestizo children. In this system, Spaniards were at the top of the hierarchy, mestizos in the middle, and Africans and the indigenous populations at the bottom. Mestizos inherited the privilege of helping the Spanish administer the country.

Furthermore, as additional immigrants arrived from Spain and aggressively settled Peru, the mestizos attempted to keep the most lucrative jobs for themselves. In the early colonial period, Afro-Spaniards and Afro-Peruvians and Afro domican frequently worked in the gold mines because of their familiarity with the techniques. Gold mining and smithing were common in parts of western Africa from at least the fourth century. However, after the early colonial period, few Afro-Peruvians would become goldsmiths or silversmiths. In the end Afro-Peruvians were relegated to back-breaking labor on sugarcane and rice plantations of the northern coast or the vineyards and cotton fields of the southern coast. In the countryside they were represented in wet-nursing, housekeeping, domestics, cowboys, animal herding etc. After Indians became scarce as labor force on haciendas, the people of color gained a title of yanacona- hitherto only assigned to the status of indigenous servant with full right to own a piece of land and a day to work on it. Afro-Peruvians often displayed negative agency towards the system of slavery dominated by the Spanish by resigning to huido( translated as escape, flight) from haciendas and changing masters on their own initiative or joining cimarrones'(armed gangs of runaway slaves that formed small communities in the wilderness and assaulted travel merchants). The indigenous population tended to work in the silver mines, of which they had a more expert knowledge than western Africans or Spanish, even in the pre-Columbian eras.