Colombia and the Slave Trade:
Slavery in the Atlantic World began when Europeans saw the endless opportunities of riches there could be obtained in the New World. Slave ships were bringing in thousands upon thousands of African slaves to the new land for free labor. Slave ports were set up all across South America, but Cartagena was designated as an official port of the Spanish fleet system in 1537, and it would become the largest single port of slave debarkation in the Spanish Americas. Over 1.1 million African slaves came through the port of Cartagena in total. From port records that we have, we know that 463 slave ships arriving in Cartagena between 1573 and 1640 that disgorged more than 73,000 enslaved Africans, according to the port records. Many more were smuggled in as well, so an exact number is difficult to say. What we do know is that Cartagena was the central location in South America for slaves to come in on ships, and that Cartagena received more than sixty percent of all the 400,000+ African slaves that were brought to Nueva Granada.
Cartagena:
The Spanish were in control of the region of Colombia during the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Spanish differed from other countries in the way they operated the slave trade. The Spanish would send over considerably larger numbers of slaves than other European countries, such as the English, the Dutch, and the French. The Spanish had their version of the slave trade down to a science, which was exactly what they wanted. The goal of the Spanish was to make the most profit that they possibly could off of African slavery. It was the most profitable business they had at the time. Cartagena was the central point of the auctioning of African slaves. Buyers came from all over South America to buy slaves at Cartagena. The port served as a great quarantine site for arriving ships carrying sickly slaves with disease. These diseases were looked at very seriously by Europeans because the main disease that would be present is smallpox, and smallpox spreads very quickly and at this time there was really nothing that could be done for you besides to just have your immune system fight the disease off. So if a slave were to get sick, this could affect Spanish profit and they would do inhumane things to slaves to keep their business as profitable as possible.
The Labor System:
When the Spanish first started colonizing the New World, they used a system of labor called the encomienda. In the encomienda, the Spanish would grant someone with a specific number of natives, and indigenous leaders were to be responsible for assessing for the tribute of labor. In return, the Spanish promised to give the natives protection from other tribes or people. However, when the slave trade came about, the labor system changed. Slaves were auctioned off and whomever purchased that slave is where that slave would go. Most slaves would be fed enough to survive and keep their stamina up so they could continue to work for their masters. Many African slaves ended up working on sugar cane plantations, farms, and in gold mines.
Citations:
Landers, Jane, et al. “Researching the History of Slavery in Colombia and Brazil through Ecclesiastical and Notarial Archives.” From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme, edited by Maja Kominko, 1st ed., Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK, 2015, pp. 259–292. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15m7nhp.20. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
“The Slave Trade at Its Height.” The Atlantic Slave Trade in World History, Dec. 2015, pp. 67–104., doi:10.4324/9781315732299-4.
