Slavery in Spain
In the 9th century the Muslim Moorish rulers and local Jewish merchants traded in Spanish and Eastern European Christian slaves.
[citation needed] After the "discovery" of the "New World", the Spanish colonialists decided to use it for commercial production and mining because of the absence of trading networks.
[3] The Native American population was used for this labor but they died in large numbers as a result of war, diseases, exploitation and social disruptions.
Bartolomé de las Casas was concerned about the fate of the natives and argued in 1516 that white and black slaves should be imported to the Indies to replace the Amerindians.
[3] However these laws did not end the practice of slavery or forced labor immediately and a new system began to be used repartimiento and mita in Peru.
Phillips Jr. William D. in The History of Slavery in Iberia, challenged the idea that race was not the key to determine who was enslaved, but instead religion.
[9] A notable difference in their usage is that unlike the Romans, who only used them in the military in support roles, the Visigoths used slaves as active fighting troops.
[13] A concubine who gave birth to a child attained the status of an umm walad, which meant that they could no longer be sold and were to be set free after the death of their master.In the Christian kingdoms of northern Iberia, slavery existed as well, originally as a continuation of Visigothic practices.
[9] In eastern Iberia, in Aragon with its coastal centers of Barcelona and Valencia, slavery evolved in the later Middle Ages.
The imported slaves were non-Christian, or at least non-Catholic, and mostly females who would serve as domestics, referred to as ancillae, and sometimes concubines, within the households of the growing urban centers of eastern Iberia.
As an unintended consequence, this increased the Muslim slave-owners' resistance to assimilation, their faith being reinforced by exposure to slaves from countries where Islam was dominant.
[citation needed] The Portuguese attempted to protect their findings from the Spanish, who were beginning to explore Africa contemporaneously.
Protecting the church, Pope Nicholas V in 1452 gave the right to enslave anyone who was not practicing the Christian religion, known as the Dum Diversas.
[14] Antumi Toasijé states in the Journal of Black Studies, "African peoples have an ancient presence in the Iberian Peninsula.
During the Expulsion of the Moriscos (Muslims who had been forced to convert to Christianity), thousands voluntarily gave themselves up in slavery rather than comply with the eviction order.
[20] As Christianity was the dominant faith in Spain, it was considered respectful for slaves to adopt this religion as their own and abandon their former religious beliefs.
This slave trade was carried out mainly by Spanish merchants as labor for sugar plantations and for domestic service in the American lands, especially in the Caribbean area.
The Spanish privateer and merchant Amaro Pargo (1678–1747) managed to transport slaves to the Caribbean, although, it is estimated, to a lesser extent than other captains and figures of the time dedicated to this activity.
[21] In 1710, the privateer was involved in a complaint by the priest Alonso García Ximénez, who accused him of freeing an African slave named Sebastián, who was transported to Venezuela on one of Amaro's ships.
The aforementioned Alonso García granted a power of attorney on July 18, 1715, to Teodoro Garcés de Salazar so that he could demand his return in Caracas.
