The Other Slavery (55 page)

34. The quote is from José Antonio Saco,
Historia de la esclavitud de los indios en el Nuevo Mundo,
2 vols. (Havana: Talleres de Cultura, 1932), 2:133. The italics are mine. Historian Silvio Zavala described the two camps as one that advocated “absolute abolition as defended by Las Casas” and the other one “characterized by judicial casuistry that was compatible with slavery under certain circumstances.” Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
115.

35. Altman,
The War for Mexico’s West,
chap. 5; Carlos Sempat Assadourian,
Zacatecas: Conquista y transformación de la frontera en el siglo XVI: Minas de plata, guerra, y evangelización
(Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2008), passim.

36. Sempat Assadourian,
Zacatecas,
39–49; Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
110.

37. The classic study of Zacatecas is Peter J. Bakewell,
Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico: Zacatecas, 1546–1700
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1971), chap. 1. See also Sempat Assadourian,
Zacatecas,
chap. 2.

38. “Borrador de la instrucción del Príncipe don Felipe a don Luis de Velasco, virrey de Nueva España, acerca de la libertad y buen tratamiento de los naturales que trabajaban en las minas, estancias, e ingenios, 1552,” in Mariano Cuevas, ed.,
Documentos inéditos del siglo XVI para la historia de México
(Mexico City: Porrúa, 1975), 170–175. For a discussion of Prince Philip’s proposal and the emergence of the new labor regime, see Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
135–137.

39. The first viceroy of Mexico, Don Antonio de Mendoza (1535–1550), observed that “with respect to the freedom of the Indians, we have followed the law to the last letter.” He stated that he had freed some Indians, but it is unclear how exactly he did it and how many. Mendoza, “Relación, apuntamientos, y avisos . . . ,” in
Instrucciones y Memorias de los Virreyes Novohispanos,
2 vols. (Mexico City: Porrúa, 1991), 1:113. See also “Instrucción a Luis de Velasco,” Valladolid, April 16, 1550, in
Instrucciones y Memorias,
125–138; and María Justina Sarabia Viejo,
Don Luís de Velasco virrey de Nueva España, 1550–1564
(Seville: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1978), 303–309.

40. Melgarejo to the king, Mexico City, May 14, 1551, in Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, ed.,
Epistolario de Nueva España,
15 vols. (Mexico City: Antigua Liberaría Robredo, 1940), 6:47–49. See also Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
133–134; Sarabia Viejo,
Don Luís de Velasco,
305–309; and Berthe, “Aspectos de la esclavitud de los indios,” 81.

41. For the total number of freed Indians, see Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, February 10, 1561, in Paso y Troncoso,
Epistolario de Nueva España,
9:102–106. The procurador himself explained the need for lengthy proceedings in Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, January 3, 1552, in Paso y Troncoso,
Epistolario de Nueva España,
6:120–123. Examples of delayed or ongoing proceedings appear in Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, November 17, 1552, in Paso y Troncoso,
Epistolario de Nueva España,
6:208–209. The procurador of Española mentioned was Alonso López de Cerrato, a strong supporter of the abolitionist faction. He would go on to implement the New Laws in Central America. See Sherman,
Forced Native Labor,
passim.

42. For the slaves made during the Mixtón War and considered justly made, see Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, October 20, 1554, in Paso y Troncoso,
Epistolario de Nueva España,
7:270–272; Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, April 11, 1557, in ibid., 8:128–130; and Melgarejo to the emperor, Mexico City, June 15, 1558, in ibid., 8:182–184. See also Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
132–134.

43. Doctor Quesada,
oidor
(member) of the Audiencia of Mexico, Mexico City, October 30, 1550, cited in Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
123. See also Sarabia Viejo,
Don Luís de Velasco,
308–309.

44.
Visitador
Hernando Martínez de la Marcha to the emperor, Compostela, February 18, 1550, in Sempat Assadourian,
Zacatecas,
247–260. On the activities of Martínez de la Marcha, see J. H. Parry,
The Audiencia of Nueva Galicia
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1948), 48–49; Zavala,
Los esclavos indios en Nueva España,
145–147; and Sarabia Viejo,
Don Luís de Velasco,
308–309.

45. Jiménez G.,
La esclavitud indígena en Venezuela,
chap. 8.

46. Sherman,
Forced Native Labor,
chaps. 9 and 10.

47. Indians in Mexico continued to take their Spanish masters to court through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indigenous plaintiffs regularly described their condition as “slave-like” or “worse than slavery” and attempted to use whatever protections the law offered. As historian Brian P. Owensby has insightfully argued, these lawsuits served at least to allow Indians to engage their employers and negotiate less coercive terms. Owensby,
Empire of Law,
151–166.

3. THE TRAFFICKER AND HIS NETWORK

1. For a discussion of the number of expelled Jews and the routes they followed, see Haim Beinart,
The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
(Oxford, UK: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2005), 284–290. Soon after the expulsion decree of 1492, Luis de Carvajal’s grandparents formally converted to Christianity. In private, however, various family members continued to practice Judaism. Indeed, the Spanish Inquisition investigated and sentenced Carvajal’s great-aunt for just such a transgression. In spite of these brushes with the Holy Office, the Carvajals remained in their ancestral hometown of Sayago, in the old Spanish kingdom of León, until around 1515, when they finally joined the exodus. They did not go far, traveling only about forty miles to the west, crossing the Portuguese border probably by way of Fermoselle, and finally settling in Mogadouro. On Luis de Carvajal’s genealogy and family background, see Luis de Carvajal,
The Enlightened: The Writings of Luis de Carvajal, El Mozo,
ed. and trans. Seymour R. Liebman (Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1967), 21–26; Stanley M. Hordes,
To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 72–73; and especially
Samuel Temkin,
Luis de Carvajal: A Biography
(Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 2011), 17–19. Temkin has gone beyond previous scholars in unearthing relevant information about this fascinating figure. As will become clear in this chapter, while I embrace the new information presented in his biography, I fundamentally disagree with Temkin’s broad acquittal of Carvajal regarding any involvement in the slave trade.

2. On Carvajal’s early life, see Temkin,
Luis de Carvajal,
18–21.

3. See George E. Brooks,
Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society, and Trade in Western Africa, 1000–1630
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993), 178; John W. Blake,
European Beginnings in West Africa, 1454–1578
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1937), 73–75; M. Mitchell Serels,
Jews of Cape Verde: A Brief History
(Brooklyn, NY: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1997), 8–9; and, above all, Maria Emília Madeira Santos, coord.,
História Geral de Cabo Verde,
vol. 2 (Lisbon: Imprensa de Coimbra, 1995), 21–29. I want to thank Maria Manuel Ferraz Torrão for graciously sharing her knowledge with a complete stranger.

4. Temkin,
Luis de Carvajal,
22–25. The census data are for 1582, a slightly later date, but are very representative of Santiago’s demography. Brooks,
Landlords and Strangers,
162. For descriptions of Cape Verde at that time, see Anonymous Portuguese pilot, “Description of a Voyage from Lisbon to the Island of São Thomé,” n.p., n.d. (circa 1540), in John William Blake,
Europeans in West Africa, 1450–1560,
2 vols. (London: Hakluyt Society, 1942), 1:147–149; Friar Baltasar Barreira, “Description of the Islands of Cape Verde and Guinea,” Cape Verde, August 1, 1606, in Avelino Teixeira da Mota and P.E.H. Hair, eds.,
Jesuit Documents on the Guinea of Cape Verde and the Cape Verde Islands, 1585–1617
(Liverpool: Department of History, University of Liverpool, 1989), parts 5 and 13; and, more generally, Brooks,
Landlords and Strangers,
143–163.

5. On Cape Verde’s commercial activities, see especially Madeira Santos,
História Geral de Cabo Verde,
18–112; Brooks,
Landlords and Strangers,
143–163; and Blake,
European Beginnings in West Africa,
73–75.

6. Unfortunately, Carvajal did not leave a paper trail regarding his work as treasurer. Given the obvious economic orientation of the Cape Verde Islands, however, it is clear that he dealt primarily with slaves. Later in life, Carvajal would describe his position as “treasurer and accountant for the king of Portugal.” See Carvajal’s testimony during his inquisitorial process in Alfonso Toro, ed.,
Los judíos en la Nueva España
(Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1982), 281; Madeira Santos,
História Geral de Cabo Verde,
522; and “Oficio para Luis de Carvalhal tesoreiro das fazendas dos difuntos no islas de Santiago e Fogo no Cabo Verde,” Lisbon, December 3, 1559, in Temkin,
Luis de Carvajal,
23.

7. It is known for sure that Duarte de León and Antonio González owned the contract for Cape Verde and Guinea between 1566 and 1574. Other commercial transactions suggest that they already had this contract in 1562 and quite likely years before that. Madeira Santos,
História Geral de Cabo Verde,
21 n. 5. On São Domingos, see André Álvares de Almada, “Tratado Breve dos Rios de Guiné . . . ,” in Antonio Brásio, ed.,
Monumenta Missionária Africana,
vol. 3 (Lisbon: Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1958), 307. Plenty of evidence confirms that Duarte de León dealt in African slaves. For instance, in 1566 the Council of the Indies initiated proceedings against him and his
partners for sending the slave ship
Nuestra Señora de la Victoria
from Lisbon to the Spanish province of Cartagena without a license or authorization. See Jerónimo de Ulloa,
fiscal
of the Council of the Indies, against Blas de Herrera, Duarte de León, and Antonio Gómez González de Guzmán residing in the city of Lisbon, Madrid, May 5, 1566, “Receptoría pedida por Jerónimo de Ulloa,” AGI, Patronato, 291, R. 145. See also the legal proceedings initiated by Duarte de León’s heirs over three hundred African slaves from Cape Verde and Guinea sold in Española and Puerto Rico, 1588, “Sentencias del Consejo,” and 1589, “Pleitos de la gobernación de Puerto Rico,” both in AGI, Escribanía, 953 and 119A, respectively; and the proceedings of Duarte de León and his partner Antonio González, both of whom are identified as “contratadores de los Ríos de Guinea,” n.p., December 17, 1571, “Pleito Fiscal: Herederos de Hernando del Cardoso,” AGI, Justicia, 889, N. 6. Duarte de León and his partner may have had other resident agents in Upper Guinea, including Marcus Fernandes, who was “chief of the contract in the Rio Grande,” and Simon de León, who resided in the port called Begundo on the Rio Farim. Blake,
Europeans in West Africa,
38.

8. On the negotiations between the two monarchies, see Madeira Santos,
História Geral de Cabo Verde,
23. For an excellent study of how Portuguese families involved in the slave trade were able to increase their economic influence in the port of Seville in the middle decades of the sixteenth century, see Manuel F. Fernández Chaves and Rafael M. Pérez García, “La penetración económica portuguesa en la Sevilla del siglo XVI,”
Espacio, Tiempo y Forma,
4th ser., vol. 25 (2012), 199–222.

9. Fray Nicolás de Vitte to a very illustrious lord of Meztitlán, August 21, 1554, in Mariano Cuevas, ed.,
Documentos inéditos del siglo XVI para la historia de México
(Mexico City: Porrúa, 1975), 221–223.

10. Bishop Zumárraga was not a man prone to exaggeration. He named specific shipmasters and listed close to twenty vessels calling at ports in Pánuco—a province that had nothing but humans to export. Modern scholars have confirmed the bishop’s estimates. Zumárraga to King Charles V, Mexico City, August 27, 1529, in Joaquín García Icazbalceta,
Don Fray Juan de Zumárraga, primer obispo de México,
4 vols. (Mexico City: Porrúa, 1988), 2:210–213. On Indian slavery in Pánuco under Guzmán, see Silvio Zavala, “Nuño de Guzmán y la esclavitud de los indios,”
Historia Mexicana
1:3 (1951), 411–428; Donald E. Chipman, “The Traffic in Indian Slaves in the Province of Pánuco, New Spain, 1523–1533,”
The Americas
23:2 (October 1966), 142–155; and Donald E. Chipman,
Nuño de Guzmán and the Province of Panuco in New Spain
(Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1967), 206–229. On the cattle boom in Pánuco, see William E. Doolittle, “Las Marismas to Pánuco to Texas: The Transfer of Open Range Cattle Ranching from Iberia Through Northeastern Mexico,” in
Yearbook
(N.p.: Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, 1987). From Guzmán’s
residencia
(judicial proceeding) it is possible to extract more precise information about slave shipments to the Caribbean. Future scholars could also derive a wealth of information from sources such as “Información que Su Magestad mandó hacer y enviar a su Real Consejo de las Indias sobre los esclavos que se han sacado de Pánuco . . . ,” Mexico City, August 9, 1529, AGI, Patronato, 231 N. 4, R. 1; and the proceedings of two Indian slaves from Pánuco, Pedro and Luisa, against Nuño de Guzmán to gain their
freedom, Valladolid, March 23, 1550, “Receptoría pedida por Nuño de Guzmán,” AGI, Patronato, 280, N. 2, R. 137.