USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -As a result, it was Spain, rather than Portugal, that first made extensive use of enslaved Africans as a colonial labor force in the Americas. Ferdinand II pointing across Atlantic to where Columbus is landing with three ships amid large group of Indians, ca. 1500, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Detailed explanation-2: -Although the Spanish often depended on others to obtain enslaved Africans and transport them across the Atlantic, the Spanish Empire was a major recipient of enslaved Africans, with around 22% of the Africans delivered to American shores ending up in the Spanish Empire.

Detailed explanation-3: -Europeans’ enslavement of Native Americans began with Columbus. As the governor of Hispaniola, he forced the Taino Indians to labor in the Spanish fields and mines, and he brought Taino slaves to Spain on his return journeys.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1517 Charles V established a system of concessions by which his subjects in the Americas could use slaves, thus starting the slave trade. When the Spanish settled in New Spain, they brought some Bantu African workers with them as slaves.

Detailed explanation-5: -In 1817 Spain signed a treaty with the United Kingdom that abolished the transatlantic slave trade. However, as can be seen in Figure 1, the arrival of new slaves to Spanish America, especially Cuba and Puerto Rico, continued until very late in the nineteenth century.