Slave trade
The capture, sale and transport of enslaved people as a commerce, especially the Atlantic trade that began from West Africa in the 15th century, and the events that built or ended it; not slavery as a general condition.
Category: Society
- January 13, 1435Pope Eugene IV orders the release of enslaved Canary Islanders in Sicut dudum
Eugene IV issues Sicut dudum on 13 January 1435, threatening excommunication for those who keep Canarians enslaved after Christian conversion. It follows Creator omnium and is partly reversed for Portugal in 1436.
- August 1444Lançarote de Freitas lands the first large group of enslaved Africans at Lagos
A fleet of six caravels returns to Lagos from the Arguin coast in August 1444 with over 200 captured Africans, who are sold at a public market. It is seen as the start of Portugal's slave trade from West Africa.
- 1495Columbus sends hundreds of enslaved Taíno to Spain
In 1495 Columbus's men round up over 1,000 Taíno and ship about 500 to Spain to be sold; many die on the voyage, and the numbers vary by source. Queen Isabella soon orders an inquiry into whether they may be enslaved.
- c. 1501Spain permits the shipment of enslaved Africans to Hispaniola
Around 1501 the Spanish crown allows Christianised, Spanish-speaking enslaved Africans to be taken to Hispaniola. Ovando soon asks for the shipments to stop, but demand grows as Taíno numbers fall. Sources give 1501 or 1503.
- 1502Nicolás de Ovando arrives as governor of Hispaniola and sets up the encomienda
Ovando sails with about 30 ships and arrives at Santo Domingo in 1502. He introduces the encomienda, in which Taíno are assigned to Spanish colonists as forced labour in return for instruction in Christianity.
- December 21, 1511Antonio de Montesinos denounces the treatment of the Taíno in a sermon at Santo Domingo
On 21 December 1511 the Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos tells the colonists of Hispaniola that their abuse of the Taíno is a sin. Bartolomé de las Casas hears it, and it leads to the Laws of Burgos.
- December 1512The Laws of Burgos regulate the treatment of Indigenous people in the Spanish colonies
In response to Montesinos's sermon, Ferdinand II issues the Laws of Burgos in December 1512, the first Spanish code for the Americas. They limit labour and require conversion but do not end encomienda or slave raids.
- c. 1514Las Casas gives up his encomienda and begins to speak out
While preparing a Pentecost sermon in 1514, Las Casas decides the encomienda is unjust and gives up his enslaved labourers. Some accounts date the formal act to 1515.
- c. 1516Las Casas presents the Memorial de Remedios and is named Protector of the Indians
In 1516, in Spain, Las Casas submits a reform plan and is made 'Protector of the Indians' in a Hieronymite commission. His plan proposed importing enslaved Africans; he later called that proposal a grave error.
- August 18, 1518Charles V licenses the direct shipment of 4,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas
On 18 August 1518 Charles V grants Lorenzo de Gorrevod a licence for up to 4,000 enslaved Africans to be carried directly from Africa to the Spanish Indies, an early step in the transatlantic slave trade.
- December 1521Enslaved Africans rise on Diego Columbus's sugar estate near Santo Domingo
In late December 1521 about 20 enslaved people, mostly Wolof, rise on Diego Columbus's plantation near Santo Domingo. It is widely regarded as the first documented slave revolt in the Americas; it is put down.
- 1537Pope Paul III declares in Sublimis Deus that the Indigenous peoples of the Americas are rational beings
In 1537 Paul III issues Sublimis Deus, saying the Indians are fully human, may not be enslaved and should be converted peacefully. Las Casas's writing and Dominican allies helped bring it about.
- 1542Charles V issues the New Laws limiting the encomienda
In 1542, after criticism by Las Casas and others, Charles V issues the New Laws to limit encomienda holders' authority over Indigenous people. They are poorly enforced and provoke revolt among colonists in Peru.
- c. 1549Enslaved Africans are brought to Brazil's plantations
The first arrival of enslaved Africans cannot be dated; the earliest firm mark is 1549, and they become the preferred plantation labour from the 1570s. About 5.5 million Africans are brought to Brazil between 1540 and the 1860s, by one estimate.
- 1568Spanish fleet defeats Hawkins and Drake at San Juan de Ulúa
In 1568, at San Juan de Ulúa (Veracruz, Mexico), a Spanish fleet destroys most of John Hawkins's slave-trading expedition. Drake escapes in the Judith, and the episode fuels his later raids on Spain.
- c. 1573Toledo adapts the Inca mita to supply forced labour for Potosí
Around 1573 Viceroy Toledo turns the Inca mita system into a Spanish draft of Indigenous workers for the silver mines of Potosí, with a separate mita for the mercury mines of Huancavelica. Sources date it between 1572 and 1575.
- c. 1605Runaway slaves found the quilombo of Palmares
In 1605, by the article's dating, escaped enslaved Africans settle at Serra da Barriga in northeastern Brazil, though Portuguese complaints of flight into the area date from 1602. It grows into the largest fugitive community in colonial Brazil.
- 1628 – 1629Paulista bandeirantes raid and destroy the Jesuit missions of Guairá
In 1628-29 bandeirantes from São Paulo, led by Manuel Preto, destroy the Jesuit missions of Guairá and enslave their Guaraní. Estimates of captives range from about 5,000 to 100,000, and raids on other missions go on until 1632.
- March 1685Louis XIV issues the Code Noir for slavery in the French colonies
The March 1685 edict of 60 articles sets the legal framework for slavery in France's Caribbean colonies, requiring baptism of the enslaved while permitting harsh punishments. It was registered in Saint-Domingue in 1687.
- November 20, 1695Zumbi is captured and beheaded after the fall of Palmares
In January 1694 Portuguese forces take Palmares's main settlement, Cerca do Macaco; Zumbi escapes wounded and is betrayed and beheaded on 20 November 1695. Resistance in the region continues for decades.
- c. 1743Birth of Toussaint Louverture on a plantation near Cap-Français
Toussaint, later called Louverture, is born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, most likely on the Bréda plantation near Cap-Français. 20 May 1743 is the usual date, but it is uncertain.
- January 1758François Makandal is burned at Cap-Français after a poisoning scare in Saint-Domingue
Makandal, a maroon leader accused of leading a plot to poison planters, is executed at Cap-Français in January 1758. Colonists' fear of poisoning lasts until the Haitian Revolution; his survival became legend.
- c. 1776Toussaint Louverture is freed from slavery in Saint-Domingue
Between about 1772 and 1776 Toussaint gains his freedom while working on the Bréda plantation. Historians long thought he stayed enslaved until the revolution; records of 1776-77 show otherwise.
- c. 1780 – 1789Saint-Domingue becomes France's richest colony on sugar, coffee and enslaved labour
By the 1780s the colony supplies roughly 40 percent of Europe's sugar and more than half its coffee. About 500,000 enslaved Africans, around nine in ten inhabitants, work its plantations. Figures vary by source.
- February 28, 1789Spain's crown opens the slave trade to its subjects in Cuba
A royal decree of 28 February 1789 lets Spanish subjects bring enslaved Africans directly to Cuba. With Saint-Domingue's sugar in ruins after 1791, the island becomes a major slave-based sugar producer. Historians debate how new the policy was.
- August 1791Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman precedes the great slave uprising in Saint-Domingue
Enslaved leaders including Dutty Boukman and Cécile Fatiman are said to hold a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman in August 1791, usually dated 14 August, and swear to fight for liberty. Details rest on later accounts.
- August 1791Enslaved people rise across the Northern Plain of Saint-Domingue
In late August 1791 thousands of enslaved people burn plantations and kill planters across the north of Saint-Domingue around Le Cap, the start of the Haitian Revolution.
- August 1793Sonthonax proclaims the abolition of slavery in northern Saint-Domingue
Civil commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, facing revolt and foreign invasion, decrees the end of slavery in the north of Saint-Domingue in August 1793 without Paris's approval. Polverel soon does the same in the south and west.
- February 4, 1794The French National Convention abolishes slavery in all French colonies
On 4 February 1794 the Convention in Paris confirms emancipation across France's colonies, making formerly enslaved people citizens. It is the first abolition of slavery by a major colonial power.
- May 20, 1802Napoleon's law of 20 May 1802 maintains slavery in the French colonies
The law of 20 May 1802 keeps or restores slavery in colonies where it had not been abolished in practice. Saint-Domingue is not named, but news of it fuels resistance to the French army there.
- January 1, 1804Dessalines declares the independence of Haiti at Gonaïves
On 1 January 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims Saint-Domingue independent under the old Taíno name Haiti. It is the first state founded by a successful slave revolt and the second independent republic in the Americas.
- 1811 – March 1812José Antonio Aponte's abolitionist conspiracy is uncovered in Cuba
A conspiracy led from Havana by the free Black carpenter José Antonio Aponte spreads across the island between 1811 and March 1812, as Cuba's sugar economy expands. Spanish authorities crush it and execute its leaders.
- February 9, 1822Haitian president Boyer takes Santo Domingo and rules the whole island
On 9 February 1822 Jean-Pierre Boyer enters Santo Domingo with some 10,000-12,000 troops, uniting Hispaniola under Haiti and ending slavery in the east. The occupation lasts 22 years.
- April 17, 1825Charles X recognises Haiti's independence in return for an indemnity of 150 million francs
A royal ordinance of 17 April 1825, backed by a French naval squadron, grants Haiti's independence on condition that it pay 150 million francs to former colonists. Haiti borrows in France to pay, a burden that lasts for generations.
- July 11, 1825Haiti's president Boyer and Senate accept France's terms under the guns of the squadron
Jean-Pierre Boyer accepts the French conditions on 8 July 1825, asking for a review, and the Haitian Senate registers the undertaking on 11 July. Haiti agrees to pay 150 million francs to former colonists in five annual instalments.
- April 30, 1826France passes a law to distribute Haiti's indemnity among former colonists
The law of 30 April 1826 sets up how the money Haiti pays is shared among former Saint-Domingue planters and their heirs, after Haiti pays the first fifth of the indemnity. A royal decree of 9 May fixes eligibility and valuation rules.
- October 10, 1868 – February 10, 1878Carlos Manuel de Céspedes begins Cuba's Ten Years' War against Spain
On 10 October 1868 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes declares independence and frees his slaves. General Martínez Campos negotiates the Pact of Zanjón on 10 February 1878. Estimates of the dead vary widely.
- October 7, 1886Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba by royal decree
A royal decree of 7 October 1886 abolishes slavery in Cuba. Sources also mark 1880, when chattel ownership of enslaved people ended and a transitional system began.