africans & the conquest of the americas. historiography invisible victims resistence leaders...
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AFRICANS & THE CONQUEST OF THE AMERICAS
HISTORIOGRAPHY
INVISIBLEVICTIMSRESISTENCE LEADERSAGENTS OF THEIR OWN DESTINIES
THE KINGDOM OF THE KONGO, 1670s
AFRICAN KINGDOM OF THE CONGO, 1670s
AFRICANS IN THE KONGO, 1670s
WEST AFRICA
ANGOLAN SLAVE COFFLE, 1780s
SENEGAL SLAVE COFFLE, 1780s
PORTUGUESE SLAVE FORT, EL MINA 1480s
SLAVE TRADE SOURCES, DESTINATIONS
“If the registers show 100, 200 enter illegally, and, if they are caught, they say they are on another’s permit. While they are on the vessels, no matter how many are travelling, they cannot be taken up as strays. There is fraud even in searching the ships.”—Judge Esteve of Hispaniola to Carlos V, 1550.
SLAVE SHIP LAYOUT, INSURRECTION
CONDITIONS ABOARD A SLAVESHIP HEADED FOR BRAZIL (1845)
“I do not understand why so many Negroes have died: take good care of them.”—Ferdinand I, King of Spain to a Royal Official in Hispaniola, June 21, 1511.
Guaman Poma, El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (Peru, 1615/1616)
“…Las Casas urged in his memorials that the Spanish settlers should be allowed to bring approximately a dozen Negro slaves, because with them they could maintain themselves in this land and would free the Indians….[the officials of the House of Trade of Seville] answered that for these islands—Hispaniola, San Juan, Cuba and Jamaica—they believed that at the present time 4,000 Negro slaves would be enough.”—Bartolome de las Casas, Historia de las Indias.
“…it is essential that Your Lordship give instructions for the granting of a general permit to these islands, in particular to this island [Hispaniola], and to San Juan, to introduce newly imported slaves, since experience has shown their great value in assisting the Indians, if these must remain vassals, or in helping the Spaniards, not to mention the great profit which will accrue to His Highness from their sale.”—Jeronimite friars to Cardinal Ximenes, Regent of Spain, June 22, 1517.
“Indeed, this is urgent need for Negro slaves,…let ships go there [Cape Verde] and bring away as many male and female Negroes as possible, newly imported and between the ages of 15 to 18 or 20 years. They will be made to adopt our customs in this island and they will be settled in villages and married to their women folk. The burden of work of the Indians will be eased and an unlimited amount of gold will be mined. This is the best land in the world for Negroes, women and old men, and it is very rarely that one of these people die.”—Judge of Hispaniola to Cardinal Ximenes, Regent of Spain, January 22, 1518.
Guaman Poma, El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (Peru, 1615/1616)
“Your Majesty already knows that the native Indians are very much on the decline, and, as the most lasting arrangement is the introduction of Negroes, we entreat you to permit the colonists to bring over 200 or 300 of these without payment of license, but paying duty only at the rate of 7½ per cent.”—City of Santiago de Cuba to Carlos V, April 10, 1537.
SLAVE TRADE SOURCES, DESTINATIONS
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
“Female slaves will be provided, who through marriage with the male slaves, will make the latter less eager for revolt, and the number of runaways will be reduced to a minimum, as you say.”—King Ferdinand I, to Pasamonte, Treasurer of Hispaniola, April 1514.
Painting by Albert Eckhout, Dutch Brazil, ca. 1630s
“It is idle to fear that the Negroes may rebel: there are widows living calmly in the Portuguese islands with as many as 800 slaves: everything depends on how they are governed. I found that on the arrival of some Spanish-speaking Negroes fled to the hills: I whipped some, cut off the ears of others, and there were no further complaints.”—Alonso Zuazo, Judge of Hispaniola, to Cardinal Ximenes, Regent of Spain, January 22, 1518.
The royal administrator orders an African slave to flog an Indian magistrate for collecting a tribute that falls two eggs short— Guaman Poma, El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (Peru, 1615/1616)
Guaman Poma, El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (Peru, 1615/1616)
“There are so many Negroes in this Island…as a result of the sugar factories, that the land seems an effigy or image of Ethiopia itself.”—Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, Historia General y Natural de las Indias, [ca. 1935].
“The Negroes are already doing business and trading among themselves to an extent involving great value and cunning, and, as a result, big and notable robberies are being committed on all the farms in the country….”—Archdeacon of Hispaniola to Council of the Indies, March, 1542.
Creolized blacks steal money from their masters and give it to Indian prostitutes—Guaman Poma
“I have spoken many times to the Court about putting a stop to this, for if the Negroes wish to rebel outright, 100 of them are sufficient to conquer the island, and 20,000 Spaniards would not suffice to bring them to subjection The island is large and well wooded, and they are warlike and expert at hiding out in the forests.”—Archdeacon of Hispaniola to Council of the Indies, March, 1542.
“On account of the habit of the Negroes to rise up in revolt, the settlers dare not give their slaves an order except in the gentlest manner. And now the position is greatly improved. The emancipation of the Indians who were held as slaves has been greatly felt on the mainland. For this and other reasons, the attorneys are leaving. To sustain the war with the Negroes and the siege of their strongholds, excise and duty were levied, to which the clergymen have always contributed….”—Audiencia of Hispaniola to Carlos V, July 23, 1546.
“Negroes are essential in the Indies since the Spaniards do not work there. All Spaniards who go there immediately become gentlemen, and as they are too poor to buy Negroes at 150 pesos, the country is depopulated. It is requested that the price be fixed at 100 pesos.”—Judge Hurtado of Hispaniola to Carlos V, 1550.
“Many people treat their slaves with great cruelty, whipping them brutally, larding them with different kinds of resin, burning them, and inflicting other cruelties from which they die. The slaves are so intimidated and punished, that they kill themselves, or throw themselves into the sea or run away, or rise up in rebellion, and one has merely to say that the master killed his slave, and no proceedings are instituted against him.”—Spanish Code Noir, 1574.
“Many Negroes run away to the mountains and crags, and only occasionally are the deserters and rebels caught by the overseers, planters and swineherds. We therefore order and command that any planter, overseer, cowherd or other person who apprehends a runaway Negro within two leagues from this town, shall be paid by the master of the slave 4 ducats; if the slave is apprehended further away, within 20 to 40 leagues, 12 ducats; and if the slave is apprehended more than 40 leagues away, 15 ducats.”—Spanish Code Noir, 1574.
Illustrations by William Blake accompanying John Gabriel Stedman’s Narrative (1770s)
“In a palm forest 16 leagues northeast of Porto Calvo existed the mocambo of the Zambi (a general or god of arms in their language)…[and other villages] fortified by a wall of earth and sticks…. It is widely believed that when blacks were first brought into the captaincies of Brazil they began to live in these Palmares, and it is certain that during the period of Dutch rule their numbers greatly increased.”—Pedro Paulino da Fonseca, “Memoria dos feitos que se deram furantes os primeiros annos da guerra com os negros quilombolas dos Palmares”
“They called their king Gangasuma (a hybrid term meaning ‘great lord’ composed of the Angolan or Bunda word ‘ganga” and the Tupi word ‘assú’ ). This king lived in a royal city which they called Macaco. This was the main city among the other towns or mocambos, and it was completely surrounded by a wall of earth and sticks.”—Pedro Paulino da Fonseca, “Memoria”
“Before the restoration of Pernambuco from Dutch rule, 25 probing expeditions were sent into the area, suffering great losses but failing to uncover the secrets of those brave people….The inhabitants of Alagôas, Porto Calvo, and Penedo were constantly under attack, and their houses and plantations robbed by the blacks of Palmares. The blacks killed their cattle and carried away their slaves to enlarge their quilombos and increase the number of their defenders, forcing the inhabitants and natives of those towns to engage in fighting at a distance of 40 leagues or more, at great costs to their plantations and risk to their own lives, without which the blacks would have become masters of the captaincy because of their huge and ever-increasing numbers.”— Pedro Paulino da Fonseca, “Memoria”
Paintings of a Mameluco and Negro warrior by Albert Eckhout, Dutch Brazil, ca. 1630s
DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE WAR AGAINST PALMARES
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CG8QFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fisc.temple.edu%2Fevanson%2Flathistory%2FReadings%2FPalmares.pdf&ei=HqtAUY_CK42o8gSuhoDQCw&usg=AFQjCNEpirdDZ0NtWrihZGISfgTUR4PpUQ&sig2=xm4-02KxzUjby8qKpO9riQ