Prelude
Spanish slavery can be traced to the Phoenician and Roman eras.
In the time frame of the Roman times to the Middle Ages, the percentage of the slave population was minimal and less than 1% of the total population.
Originally, religion, not race, was the key to determine who was enslaved.
The idea of race as we know it today did not come about until after Bacon's Rebellion in early 1600s America.
The rules at the time were usually to prohibit people from enslaving someone within their same religion or nation.
Slavery gained momentum after 500 AD, with the advent and spread of Islam.
The Muslim Moors of North Africa created an extensive slave trafficing network across Africa.
Unlike European slavery that mostly bought and sold men for agricultural labor, Islamic slavers focused on women and children, while men were mainly enslaved into military service.
Their military might helped them to expand their empire across the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe.
[African Routes for the Islamic Slave Trade]
[Islamic Slave Ships]
In the 700s, the Moors in Northwest Africa crossed the Meditteranean and invaded Spain (known as Islamic Iberia).
They controlled most of the Portuguese and Spanish peninsula for the next 700 years.
[Muslim Conquest of Spain]
In the 700s, the Moors continued their slave markets in Africa, but now with control extending across Europe, in Iberia (Western Europe) and the Black Sea (Eastern Europe), they began importing white Christian slaves.
The Muslim Moorish rulers and local Jewish merchants traded in Spanish and Eastern European Christian slaves.
Non-Muslims were prohibited from holding Muslim slaves, and so if one of their slaves converted to Islam, Jews were required to sell the slave to a Muslim.
The slaves of the Caliph were often European saqaliba slaves trafficked from Northern or Eastern Europe.
These Slavic Europeans are the origin from where the term "slave" was derived.
Female slaves were forced into Moorish harems for sex slaves, as they were prized for their light skin.
[European Female Slaves]
The Iberian peninsula served as a base for further exports of slaves into other Muslim regions in Northern Africa until the Catholics rebeled and took power.
With its formal establishment in 1492, the country of Spain was now free from Islamic control and united, along with the rise of Catholicism.
Now the imported slaves were now non-Catholic, though still mostly females who would serve as domestics and sometimes sex slaves.
Soon things reversed, as the enslavement of Christians was being phased out, while the newly empowered Christian kingdoms gained most of their slaves from military campaigns in the Muslim south.
The Spanish and Portuguese slave traders now began taking trips down the Atlantic coast of Africa.
This began the introduction of sub-Saharan African slaves in larger numbers into Europe.
The European discovery of the Americas and the Spanish colonization of large parts of it, led to a great need for slave labor.
The North and South American cultures already had their own slaves, with some tribes estimated to be composed of up to 25% slaves.
In fact, some cultures had so many slaves and prisoners of war, that they could sacrifice thousands of them in a day.
An estimated 2 to 5.5 million Indigenous Americans were enslaved by Europeans from 1492 to 1880, mostly by the Spanish.
The need for labor continued to expand, as the production of sugarcane, along with other crops, in the fertile Caribbean soils increased dramatically.
However, after early European contact, the population of the native peoples declined rapidly, many from disease, while the need for slave labor only increased.
This need was filled by the hardy African peoples who had long been immune to European diseases from continual contact and had more familiarity with their agricultural techniques.
The African kingdoms along the western coast continued to sell their slaves in exchange for guns, ammunition, and other European luxaries.
They had mostly been selling their wartime slaves that they had taken from battles with rival kingdoms, but eventually the increasing need for slaves led to more battles and kidnappings.
Millions of them were purchased by the slave traders, but only an estimated 10.7 million Africans survived the Middle Passage across the Atlantic.
[Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Routes]
About 96.4 percent of them were taken to South America and the Caribbean, while only 3.6 percent, or about 388,000 of the 10.7 million Africans were sent to North America.
These slaves were taken to cities from New York to New Orleans.
However, after the invention of the cotton gin, most of them were now taken to the southern slave markets in New Orleans and Charleston.
Approximately 5.5 million, or about half, of the African slaves were taken to Brazil, making it the country that imported the most enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade.
Slavery was not abolished in Brazil until 1888, which made Brazil the last major country in the Americas to end the practice of slavery.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade significantly expanded the previouslly rare practice of chattel slavery, which is a system where individuals are treated as personal property and can be bought, sold, and owned indefinitely, without a chance at freedom.
1492 - Native American Populations
In 1492 AD, when Christopher Columbus first arrived in the West Indies, it is estimated that there were about 100,000 - 350,000 people living in the area now known as Florida.
Accepting the conservative estimate of 100,000, the distribution was thought as this:
Timucuans in the northeast, 40,000;
Apalachee and Pensacola in the northwest, 25,000;
Tocobaga in the west-central, 8,000;
Calusa in the southwest, 20,000;
Tequesta in the southeast, 5,000;
Jeaga, Jobe and Ais (pronounced 'ice') in the east-central, 2,000.
There were others, as well as sub-groups, i.e., Saturiwa, Santaluces, Boca Ratones, Tocobaga, etc.
Note: The Seminole tribe was not included in the list above, since they did not exist as a unique tribe until the early 1700s. You can learn more about them later.
1500s - Spanish Raiders in Florida
After the "discovery" of the New World, the Spanish quickly used it for commercial production and mining.
Early in the 1500s, Spanish pillagers penetrated Florida in search of precious metal and slaves.
The
Spanish sent several exploration expeditions through Central and North Florida during the first half of the 1500s.
Their purpose was primarily to look for slaves, gold, and other exploitable resources.
The native peoples were used to perform labor for these pursuits.
Most of the impact fell on the Timucua.
It is believed that the Timucua may have been the first Native Americans to see the Spanish explorers when they landed in Florida, as early explorers often used the language of the Timucua to communicate with other tribes.
It is believed, by some, that the Spanish slavers were the first Europeans to arrive in the area of Florida.
Evidence from maps show that, maybe as early as 1502, the Spanish slave traders in Cuba already knew of the existence of the land of Florida and likely sailed there in order to capture and enslave the native tribes and take them back to Cuba.
One of these maps is the 1511 map by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera that shows a land mass (Florida) at the top center two years before it was "discovered" and named by Ponce De Leon.
[1511 Map of the Caribbean by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera]
In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed near what would become
St. Augustine
He claimed Eastern North America for the Spanish crown and gave it the name La Florida, because it was the season of Pascua Florida ("Flowery Easter") and because much of the native vegetation was in bloom.
The Timucua were likely the first to see the landing of Juan Ponce de León near St. Augustine in 1513, when he named the land "La Florida".
However, this notion is up for debate, as some historians now claim that the Ponce de León landing point was further south in Ais territory, near what is today Melbourne Beach.
Ponce de Leon was treated better by the Florida Natives on his first trip in 1513, than he was on his second voyage in 1521.
It was reported that the Native Americans screamed Spanish words at Ponce de Leon on his second trip.
This leads to claims that they had encounters with the Spanish slave ships who had raided the Florida coast in between De Leon's voyages and had caused tension between the groups.
[1525 - Map of the World known to the Spanish]
Later, in 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition landed near Tampa in order to conquer the Timucua, but he did not find the precious metal he expected and also food supplies there were inadequate.
Narvaez led his small army along the western fringes of the Timucua territory from Tampa bay northward to explore the country of the Apalachee and beyond.
Although they, too, lacked gold, he appropriated sufficient grain from them to keep his band alive.
However, facing the stiff resistence of the Apalachee, he had to abandon any idea of a permanent settlement, and his band continued on westward into what is now Texas and eventually reached New Spain (Mexico).
Of the 260 who started out, only three survived.
Unfortunately their account is sketchy, but they described an arid and poor land.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto, who had been appointed Governor of Cuba and La Florida, went over nearly the same route as Narváez, as he landed with 622 men and 200 horses and invaded the town of Mocoso (near today's Tampa Bay).
He found the Americans living in a small town of timber houses with thatched roofs.
The chief's house was near the beach on a high defensive mound, and opposite to it was a temple surmounted by a wooden bird with gilded eyes.
He was in a search for wealth and opportunities for colonization.
Having not found any significant wealth in the area of Tampa Bay, de Soto attacked the surrounding region in order to rob, kill and enslave them as he led his army through the western parts of Timucua territory.
There are many mixed stories about the relations between the Indians and the Spanish, which went from bad to worse as time passed.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto found Juan Ortiz near Tampa.
Ortiz had been allowed to live by the intercession of Tocobagan Chief Ucita's daughter and had even been traded among tribes.
This was 68 years before the similar John Smith and Pocahontas event at Jamestown.
It is believed that this intercession by a chief's daughter may have been a common practice among the Natives as a way of sparing the life of an outsider.
Another documented account of the interactions between Native tribes and Europeans is found in the memoirs of Hernando d'Escalante Fontaneda. He was shipwrecked around 1549 when he was only 13 years old. He was taken captive by the Florida Nativess and lived with them for 17 years, before he was released and returned to Spain. Seven years later, Fontaneda wrote his memoirs of his experience.
De Soto led his men in a devastating entrada through central and north Florida.
They visited a series of villages of the Ocale, Potano, Northern Utina, and Yustaga ranches of the Timucua on his way to the Apalachee domain
(see list of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition).
De Soto's historians mentioning some 20 tribal or local names within the region, including Yustaga and Potano.
Like de Narváez before him, de Soto eventually marched north in the search for greater amounts of food and wealth.
His army seized the food stored in the villages, forced women into concubinage, and forced men and boys to serve as guides and bearers.
They also introduced hogs into the forests in order to breed a food supply for later expeditions.
Like De Soto and his explorers, these invasive hogs preyed on traditional Timucuan food sources and, in turn, were hunted by them.
Thus causing even further changes to their lifestyle.
The army fought two battles with Timucua groups, resulting in heavy Timucua casualties.
The Timucua were not as warlike as the Apalachee to the North or the Calusa state of Arawak speakers to the South, although they were certainly capable warriors.
They preferred to find ways to avoid overt conflict.
For example, they would place the head of an enemy on a post outside public buildings or hang his limbs from trees to warn off possible enemies.
Older male captives tended to fare poorly, as sacrificial killings were common place, but women and children were adopted and forced to merge with the tribe.
People often abandoned their settlements at De Soto's approach.
[A proposed route for the first leg of the de Soto Expedition,
based on Charles M. Hudson's Map]
The Acuera people (of today's Lake County) encountered Europeans when their western towns were raided by soldiers of Hernando de Soto's expedition.
De Soto's main forces moved north from Tampa Bay to Ocale, where they stopped for two weeks.
The expedition intended to live off the land, taking food stored in the towns along their path.
De Soto received a report of a large town named Acuera, said to have abundant maize.
While at Ocale, de Soto twice sent soldiers to seize maize from Acuera, but the Acuera strongly resisted the Spanish incursions.
As with all of the Timucuan tribes, the principal town was the political center of a chiefdom which controlled a larger territory with other settlements.
In the case of the Acuera, their territory appears to have been what is today the Ocklawaha River Valley and the Ocala National Forest.
The Acuera defeated and drove away the Spaniards from the de Soto expedition.
They were one of the few groups during the early part of the entrada to do so.
The earliest descriptions of chiefdom of Acuera, are from the accounts of the Hernando de Soto entrada of 1539, describing the principal town of Acuera as being located within a day's travel of the town of Ocale on the northern side of the Withlacoochee River.
Based on distances between indigenous towns reported by Spanish explorers, anthropologists Jerald T. Milanich and Charles Hudson place the town of Acuera in central Florida near Lake Weir (Weirsdale) and Lake Griffin (Leesburg), around the headwaters of the Oklawaha River, a tributary of the St. Johns River.
[Ocklawaha River Basin, Lake County]
De Soto was in a hurry to reach the Apalachee domain, where he expected to find gold and sufficient food to support his army through the winter, so he did not linger in Timucua territory.
De Soto eventually reached the large settlement of Cofachiqui (in modern Georgia), led by a female chieftain who greeted him in a shaded canoe.
In order to avoid disaster, she ordered that all available white and yellow metal be given to de Soto.
This meant copper and the mica sheets which artisans fashioned into ornaments.
However, her efforts were in vain, because there were no local pearls, de Soto's men looted the burial ground to seize 158 kg of the freshwater pearls that were buried there and proceeded to scalp and kill everyone they could (scalping was practiced in early Europe by the Alemani and Franks as a way to destroy a person's charisma).
Eventually, de Soto gave up on Florida because of its lack of gold and the Apalachee were quite effective in their own military defense. They were excellent fort builders and constantly harassed his troop. His negative reports discouraged further attacks against the chiefdoms in Florida until the mid-1600s.
De Soto reached the Mississippi River in May 1541 and spent some time at the various towns there.
He then moved westward nearly as far as Oklahoma, but then decided there was no point in going further west.
Anxious to find the ocean so that he could build ships and restore contact with the outside world, he returned to the Mississippi River in southeast Arkansas.
There, he became sick.
Knowing he did not have long to live, he nominated his second-in-command, Luis de Moscoso Alvarado, to become the new governor.
The men then elected Alvarado as their leader.
De Soto died on May 21, 1542, likely from fever, along the Mississippi River.
Moscoso initially had him buried, but then decided that before continuing on, it would be better to exhume his body and dispose of it in the Mississippi River to maintain the illusion to the Native Americans that he was a god.
Moscoso led the expedition back to the gulf.