Slavery In The Colonies Of New Spain.

The Spanish first began using slaves in the New World by capturing and subjugating local Native American Indians..

The Spanish used enslavement as a means of mobilized Native labor but also coerced labor by means of what was then known as “Encomienda.” This was a trusteeship labor system where the Spanish Monarchy would grant a person a specified number of natives for whom they were to take responsibility. This person was to instruct the Natives in the Spanish language and Catholic faith. In return the could exact tribute from the natives in the form of labor or gold or other goods. According to the Encomienda system the natives were not slaves but considered free people.

Another way the Spanish used Natives to perform laborious tasks was by “Repartimiento.” A forced labor system where the Natives were forced to do low-paid or unpaid labor for a certain number of weeks or months each ear on Spanish owned farms, mines, workshops, and public projects. Like the Encomiendasystem, repartimiento was not considered slavery because the Natives were not owned outright and the time of work they were forced to do was intermittent.

Although the Spanish claimed that the Natives were not slaves, this was only a technicality.

The Spanish also implemented a mandatory public service on the local Natives called “Mita.” The Mita was a mandatory public service used by the Inca Empire where its citizens were forced to pay tribute in the form of labor to its government. The Inca citizens had to dedicate a certain number of days each year (a large majority of the year) to aid in the construction of roads and temples and to work in the production of crops. It as used by the Inca as a way not to extort its citizens but as a collective way to keep the civilization stable and growing. When the Spanish conquered the Inca they continued this policy on the citizens but twisted it for personal gain by forcing natives to tend to Spanish owned farms and institutes of Spanish Production such as the silver mines being discovered around Mexico.But when the Native locals began dying in massive numbers due to disease and famine the Spanish began importing African Slaves. Between 1502 and 1518 with the permission of the Spanish Monarchs ferdinand and Isabella, Spain shipped out hundreds of Spanish-born Africans called “Ladinos”. The Ladinos were sent to work in the extremely valuable silver mines the Spanish had found in Mexico. It is estimated that between the 15th and 19th centuries the Spanish colonies of New Spain received about two million African slaves.