Even before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, slavery was already in existence. But it was Columbus who turned it into a worldwide enterprise and made it the basis for the New World’s economic system.
Before 1492 it was not uncommon for Indians to enslave tribes they defeated in battle, although most of the tribes lived in peace.
The beginnings of slavery under the Spanish are murky. Columbus laid the groundwork for slavery during his first voyage, in 1492. When he found how docile the natives were, the explorer began to see them as potential servants.
He wrote in his log, “They ought to be good servants of good intelligence.”
The Spanish used slaves in the Canary Islands, and the Portuguese practiced slavery. There are some indications Columbus had once been involved in the slave trade on the African coast.
At first his goal was simply to take back some of the natives to show to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. On one island he ordered his men to capture seven women and three children to take back to Spain.
By the time he had reached Cuba, Columbus had begun to envision large settlements where the Spanish would supervise Indian laborers. He wrote that the Indians were “fit to be ordered about and made to work, to sow and do everything else that may be needed . . . all that they are ordered to do they will do without opposition.”
He headed back to Spain with between six and nine natives. It is not known how many of the natives died on the long voyage.
In Spain, Columbus was proclaimed a hero, and he planning began for a second expedition.
Unfortunately, Columbus could not find the huge wealth he had anticipated. If he could not return with gold and silver, he would need another scheme. That plan was to enslave the natives. He promised the king “slaves, as many as they shall order.”
On the second voyage, begun in 1493, Columbus ordered natives to be rounded up and returned to Spain to be sold. In February 1494, several dozen Indian slaves arrived in Spain. Columbus expected them to be sold and the money used to buy cattle and supplies to be shipped to the New World.
But King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella did not like the plan. They ordered the trade stopped until the matter could be discussed in detail.
Still, Columbus continued to ship slaves to Spain. About 1,600 were rounded up in 1495 on the island of Hispaniola. About 550 were put in chains for the voyage to Spain. The others were offered to crew members as personal slaves.
On the voyage back, nearly 200 Indians died and about half of those who survived were very sick.
Columbus also instituted a system of tribute. The Indians were required to furnish a small quantity of gold every three months. Those who failed to find enough gold – a difficult job on some islands – had their hands cut off.
The tribute system did not last long, and was replaced with slavery on the islands. In a system known as encomienda, the governor could give Indians to Spanish colonists. The Indians were supposed to receive compensation, but seldom did.
The Spanish king and queen remained undecided about slavery. After ordering the slave trade put on hold, they authorized the sale of slaves, then again changed their minds and said they wanted “to consult with lawyers, theologians, and specialists in canon law to see whether they can be sold in good conscience.”
Finally, the royal couple ordered the Indian slaves in Spain freed and banned future sales.
But in 1502 the program of encomienda became official on Hispaniola and spread to Spanish colonies throughout the New World. Although Ferdinand and Isabella had outlawed Indian slavery in Spain, they approved slavery in their New World colonies in 1503.
Two years later, the use of African slaves began in the New World, laying the foundations for a brutal, barbaric system that was to last for centuries.
