Cortes

Casey Rockwood

Colonial Latin American History

W.C.: 1,464

Afro-Latino Role Playing

Spaniards brought Africans to the New World at the very beginning of Spanish conquest. For the most part, Spanish authority determined Africans' social capacity, acculturated them, and manipulated their role to serve Spanish ends. Despite Spanish dominance, Africans retained some semblance of cultural distinction, and acted independently against Spanish interests. Their role evolved as the Spanish increasingly faced problems of satisfying high labor demands and maintaining control over a population much larger than their own. Initially, Africans played a military and, on rare occasions, a socio-political role in the Spanish conquest; however, more significantly, Africans provided Spanish colonialism with an efficient labor source and a buffer between the Spanish minority and the natives. Although African and Afro-Latino roles did not always support Spanish aims, they were essential to the Spanish ability to control a population much larger than their own and profit from their colonies.

Enslaved and free Africans fulfilled the role of a military auxiliary in the Spanish conquest. Slaves could gain their freedom for participation in Spanish conquest. Juan Garrido was a black slave who fought with CortÐ"©s against the Aztecs to gain his freedom. Another slave, Juan Valiente was so successful that he was given an encomienda. Escaped slaves often joined conquistadors without exhaustive inquiry into their background. Free blacks also commonly participated in the conquest, and some enjoyed high rank. "A free black man served as second in command of Pizarro's artillery at Cajamarca, eventually gaining the rank of Captain." Africans served Spanish aims, but they also had something to gain for themselves. Despite that many Africans were slaves, and that even free blacks were inferior to Spaniards, they were superior to natives in that they had authority to and were rewarded for killing and conquering them. Natives viewed them as "black white men," because these Africans "had been born in or had lived many years in Spain." They were culturally, linguistically, and religiously Spanish. Africans during the conquest were very much a part of the Spanish world. The black conquistadors had little impact on the Spanish success relative to native alliances, technological advantages, and disease, but the role of Africans came to play a far more significant role in Spanish colonization.

In mainland Spanish colonies, Africans supervised native labor, mainly in the silver mines, and collected tribute from native populations. In alliance with conquistadors, they served in military expeditions to pacify conquered natives. They were a social intermediary between Spaniards and natives. Unfortunately for the Africans, "the exercise of unprecedented power by Spaniards and their black auxiliaries over defeated Indians led to accusations of abuse." Prejudiced Spanish authorities blamed the Africans and passed legislation legally defining African social inferiority and restrictions. This, combined with increasingly cheaper African slave labor and a growing demand for it, changed African labor roles in Spanish colonies.

Unintended results of Spanish conquest determined the role of Africans as an essential source of labor. Through violence, harsh labor demands, and especially disease, the Spanish conquest resulted in the eventual death of a vast majority of the native labor resource. Spaniards, having no intention of working themselves, supplanted their labor source by importing huge numbers of slaves directly from Africa. This resulted in the formation of a large mixed, or casta, population that required social definition. Spaniards defined social order in terms of ethnicity. Consequently, Africans and pardos had differing roles in terms of labor. Africans directly from Africa constituted the plantation and urban slave population. Free Africans, and, more prominently, free pardos constituted "the majority of the skilled urban work force." Pardos also had the privileged opportunity to serve in militias designed to enforce and maintain Spanish order over natives.

Plantation slaves endured the lowest lot in Latin America, but they were essential to the colonial economy. The Spaniards and the Portuguese imported mostly males from Africa to work sugar, tobacco, and cacao plantations. The majority of these plantation slaves were in the Caribbean and Brazilian sugar plantations. The lack of females, twenty plus hour per day work shift, and rapid rate of death inhibited these Africans from serving any role outside of their function of labor and earning the money to buy their manumission. However, some slaves did manage to engage in stable, fruitful marriages with natives. They also played an important role in terms of their resistance to European demands, which was manifested in sabotage of machinery, feigned illnesses, and escape. Some successful escapees formed runaway communities, or palenques, and maintained their freedom by forming treaties with the Spanish. The captured were publicly and brutally punished. Slave resistance was an African role that did not advance the aims of Spanish colonization.

Urban slaves played a significant role as "manual laborers, household servants, skilled artisans, street vendors and in a multitude of other occupations." These Africans enjoyed far better lives than rural slaves. They had time to work for wages in the city, save money, and buy their freedom. "Free pardos and blacks provided the majority of the skilled urban work force." Every slave had the right to buy his freedom at a reasonable cost, but only the urban slaves realistically had the opportunity to earn sufficient wages. Urban slaves could successfully marry and procreate, which led to an overwhelming Afro-Latino urban population. Regardless of the relative ease of