New Spain

Spain’s first colonies in Caribbean

• Hispaniola initially heart of empire

• take all the gold and expand mines for silver inland

within a decade, settlers enslave natives in encomiendas

• Spaniards granted slaves for work and to convert to Catholicism

• die due to slavery and disease, so Spanish import from other islands

  • later begin importing African slaves

Spanish and Portuguese turn to African slaves for reason:

• Amerindians die rapidly; Africans alrdy have disease exposure

• African slaves are common in Iberia from previous Muslim rule

• W Africa has big external slave trade in place

• slaves should be “enemies of Christianity”

  • (it’s ok to enslave u bc ur wrong abt ur religion)

  • Christianity is new to Amerindians, but Africans have not converted while they have known abt it

Bartolome de las Casas is a Catholic priest bothered by Spanish abuse

• major critic of abuse of natives; fine with African slaves