4 - The Large and Small-Scale Introduction of Africans to Veracruz

Summary

Chapter 4 examines Veracruz’s role as a hub of the transatlantic slave trade. Drawing on archival manuscripts held in Mexico and not previously used in studies of the slave trade, it offers a detailed examination of the slave trade to Mexico in three chronological stages: an early period (before 1595); the asiento period (1595–1640); and a decline period (1640–1713). In its examination of both the early and later stages of the slave trade, the chapter departs from earlier studies that focus mainly on the Portuguese asiento period, showing that more captives arrived in Veracruz in the early and decline periods than has been acknowledged and those who did hailed disproportionately from West Africa, rather than West Central Africa. Across all periods, the chapter demonstrates the complexity of the early modern slave trade to the Spanish Caribbean, focusing especially on the intercolonial slave trade and on nonlinear slave ship voyages that delivered captives in multiple colonies. In this, it argues that we should not think of captives who arrived in Mexico as a distinct “cohort,” but as part of a regionwide diaspora to multiple Caribbean territories.