In general slavery was illegal in Spain or Spanish territories, the main exception being Muslims taken during the Reconquista. The enthusiasm of Columbus for the slave trade was rejected by Isabella and Ferdinand, the Spanish monarchs;^[1] a degree issued in 1500 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella specifically forbade enslavement of natives; however, there were three exceptions which were freely used by colonial Spanish authorities to evade the prohibition: Cannibals (Caribs, one target population, practiced ceremonial cannibalism); those taken in "just wars"; and slaves purchased from other indigenous people.^[2] The need for slave labor first arose in the placer gold deposits of Cibao on Hispaniola. After the natives of Hispaniola were worked to death using the encomienda system the other islands of the Caribbean were scoured for slaves. A shortage of labor resulting from a Smallpox epidemic in 1518 resulted in an intensified search.^[3] By 1521 the islands of the northern Caribbean, such as the Bahamas inhabited by the peaceful Taíno people, were for the most part depopulated.^[4] The pearl fisheries on the coast of Venezuela was another activity which had a high attrition rate.^[5]

In 1542, urged on by Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, author of A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies^[6] Charles I of Spain enacted the New Laws. By its terms it declared Indians free vassals, but, in practical terms, only made it more difficult to own and exploit slaves. Despite being technically illegal, slavery continued in Spanish America for centuries.^[7] On one hand the courts were instructed to "put special care in the good treatment and conservation of the Indians", to remain informed of any abuses committed against Indians, and "to act quickly and without delaying maliciously as has happened in the past";^[8] on the other hand, "... Spanish masters resorted to slight changes in terminology, gray areas, and subtle reinterpretations to continue to hold Indians in bondage."^[9]

Gregorio López, one of the supporters of the New Laws, was appointed to the Council of the Indies in 1543 and undertook attempts to free the Indian slaves of Seville.^[10] Over 100 cases of Indians seeking freedom, not all successfully,^[11] are in the legal archives of Seville.^[12] Masters often contested attempts by slaves to obtain freedom; the cases could drag on for years, meanwhile, the slaves had nowhere to go and often remained in the service of their master and sometimes faced mistreatment.^[11] The use of Indian slaves in Spain itself died out by the early 17th Century.^[13]

In Mexico, Peru, and other parts of Spanish America indigenous slaves were much more important economically and beneficiaries of the system were much more resilient and resourceful; indigenous slavery continued for centuries.^[14][15] In Peru the Spanish emissary sent to enforce the New Laws was murdered and beheaded.^[16] In Mexico the Spanish emissary, Francisco Tello de Sandoval, a member of the Spanish Inquisition and the Council of the Indies, agreed to suspend the laws and appeal to the King. Some concessions were made, the encomiendas were expanded, but the basic law was not modified.^[17]

Spanish movement north after discovery of vast deposits of silver^[18] in the desert regions north of the conquered Aztec Empire resulted in wars with the unconquered tribes of that region. The first, the Mixtón War, was a serious struggle, but the Spanish prevailed with the help of 10s of thousands of Aztec allies. The second, the Chichimeca War, did not go well. Spanish troops were over-matched by vast numbers of naked native warriors using obsidian tipped arrows, and the treasury was exhausted by the struggle, and in the end troops were withdrawn and a peace program was employed. In both instances the exception of "just war" was employed to take thousands of slaves.^[19] Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, first governor of the New Kingdom of León, played a prominent role in the slave trade.^[20] The silver deposits of Mexico were massive and were exploited for centuries by underground mining of hundreds of rich veins.

In Peru thousands of indigent workers were drafted to work in the silver mines of Potosí, Huancavelica, and Cailloma, a system that continued for 250 years.^[21] In Chile Spanish occupation of the lands of the Mapuche was vigorously contested for 3 centuries in the Arauco War. The prescription against enslaving Indians was lifted by Philip III of Spain but resulted only in intensification of the conflict.^[22] His son Philip IV of Spain changed course in the latter part of his reign and began restricting Mapuche slavery.^[23] Philip IV died without freeing the indigenous slaves of Chile but his wife Mariana of Austria, serving as regent, and his son Charles II of Spain engaged in a broad anti-slavery campaign throughout the Spanish Empire.^[24][25]

The anti-slavery campaign began with an order by Mariana of Austria in 1667 freeing all the Indian slaves in Peru that had been captured in Chile.^[26] Her order was met with disbelief and dismay in Peru.^[27] Without exception she freed the Indian slaves of Mexico in 1672.^[28] After receiving a plea from the Pope she freed the slaves of the southern Andes.^[29] On June 12, Charles II issued a general declaration freeing all indigenous slaves in Spanish America. In 1680 this was included in the Recopilación de las leyes de Indias, a codification of the laws of Spanish America.^[30] The Caribes, "cannibals," were the only exception.^[31] Governor Juan Enríquez of Chile resisted strongly, writing protests to the king and not publishing the decrees freeing indian slaves.^[32] The royal anti-slavery crusade did not end indigenous slavery in Spain's American possessions, but, in addition to resulting in the freeing of thousands of slaves, it ended the involvement and facilitation by government officials of slaving by the Spanish; purchase of slaves remained possible but only from indigenous slaver such as the Caribs of Venezuela or the Comanches.^[33]

Notes and references