The Legacy of African Slavery in Colonial Mexico, 1519-1810! Douglas Richmond African-Mexicans have endured general neglect—once as slaves and again as historical subjects. Few scholars have examined the Africa Hispanic experience thoroughly. Biased interpretations of Mexican hi: tory insisted that the Hispanic indigenous influence is the only founda- tion for the construction of Mexico’s modern society. But the African element has often gone unnoticed in Mexican culture although it was a major factor during the colonial period. This study surveys the experiences and contributions of Africans from 1519 to 1810 in Mexican history. The Spaniards brought Africans into a society that deemed them weak, hedonistic, subservient, and fit only for bondage. Without knowledge of Mexico’s African legacy, a full understanding of modern Mexico is incomplete. This study also demon- strates that African-Mexicans played an active role in the evolution of colonial Mexico despite suffering the brunt of Spain’s oppressive color consciousness. The first African slaves in Mexico accompanied their masters to New Spain during the early sixteenth century Hispanic invasion. These Africans arrived from Cuba with Hernan Cortés and Panfilo de Narvdez. Afterwards, large numbers of slaves, with Spanish settlers at their sides, poured into the tantalizing Viceroyalty of New Spain. False rumors of fabulous riches and cities of gold made Mexico a valuable possession in the minds of many (Beltrén, “Slave Trade” 412; Boyd-Bowman, “Negro Slaves” 149-52). African slaves accompanied both Francisco de Montejo in his Yucatecan campaign and Pedro Alvarado in the Guatemalan onslaught. Cortés had six bondsmen in his band that defeated Moutecuhzoma (Boyd-Bowman, La poblacion negra 19-21). In the six- teenth century, New Spain probably had more Africans than any other colony in the New World. During the Spanish invasion of Mexico, Africans served generally as personal attendants burden bearers, and laborers. Their slave status obscured contributions made against indigenous resistance and the elab- oration of a new order because their masters usually ignored slave 12 © Journal of Popular Culture accomplishments. Africans received only scant mention in eye-witness accounts of the Spanish assaults—and only when their deeds were unusual or bold (Browning 10). On the other hand, several black freedmen from Seville and else- where in Spain secured passage on ships bound for Mexico. Some set- tled in the Caribbean, but others followed the tempo of invasion to Mexico. One freeman, Juan Garrido, participated in the siege of Tenochtitlan and became the first farmer in the American continent. As one of the relatively few free Africans in Mexico, he enjoyed enough respect to become the doorkeeper to the Mexico City’s cabildo from 1524 to the end of 1526. Garrido also became responsible for maintain- ing the Chapultepec aqueduct before purchasing his own slaves and attempting to seek his fortune in the gold fields (Pike 358-61; Gerhard 451-59). African slavery accelerated once the religious orders became con- cerned about the rapid decline of the indigenous population. Disease and the rigors of the Spanish labor systems demolished the Indians. An esti- mated 25 million indigenous people inhabited Mexico by 1519. But their numbers plunged to six million by 1548 and 1.5 million by 1600. Fortunately, dedicated priests translated indigenous languages, wrote minute descriptions of Indian culture, and fought against white encroachment upon indigenous lands as well as the exploitation of their labor. But celebrated bishop of Chiapas and apostle of the indigenous group, Bartolomé de las Casas, advocated the idea that Africans, not Indians, should be Mexico’s bondsmen. In 1517, las Casas returned to Spain and advocated stronger legal restrictions against indigenous exploitation and lobbied successfully for humane treatment of Indians. But Indians continued to be enslaved illegally; thus, slavery in Mexico was color blind. Because las Casas argued for the substitution of black slaves for Indian subjugation, the bishop has been accused of having thus caused the introduction of African slavery into the New World (Browning; Maclachlan; Schwaller; Hanke). Later, at least, las Casas confessed remorsefully that the labor changes which he had advocated earlier had the effect of bolstering the African slave trade. Bishops such as las Casas received permission to bring African slaves to Chiapas. Dominican monks planted sugar in Chiapas on huge plantations which thrived on the backs of numerous African slaves. Las Casas understood the double standard in his reason- ing: the labor legislation should have “applied equally both to the Negro as to the Indian,” he wrote later (qtd. in Browning 9). The Catholic Church smothered its favoritism for Indians over Africans in hypocrisy. Even las Casas realized this. Never did the churchThe Legacy of African Slavery © 3 espouse the same apostolic fervor, offer the same protection, or devote the same resources to Africans as it did to Indians, although Africans suffered similar, if not worse, atrocities at Spanish hands. Africans car- ried the loads of the conquistadores, cleared the paths, and guided the explorers. African labor, however, went unrewarded. Soon they anchored the bottom of New Spain’s social order (Beltran, “The Slave Trade” 412- 14). With Africans, there were no moral or legal restrictions to enslave- ment. The Hispanic conscience was clean. In the minds of most Spaniards, it was natural for Africans to be slaves. Scholars have debated the actual number of Africans who entered Mexico during the colonial era. Data preserved by Mexican chronicler L6pez de Velasco infers that more than 60,000 Africans arrived during the sixteenth century, although this number is conjectural. Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, the leading African-Mexican researcher, estimates that of the 200,000 Africans sent to Mexico, the country received annually an average of 2,000 from 1580 to 1650 (Boyd-Bowman, poblacion negra 16). Historian Colin Palmer asserts that New Spain purchased nearly half of all Africans shipped to the New World between 1595 and 1622 (14-16). Certainly African immigration was quantitatively greater than whites prior to 1700. A census taken in the 1570-1580 decade of seven areas provides data that demonstrate that there were more blacks than whites. By 1560, for example, 10,595 negros and 1,050 mulattoes (people of black-white ancestry) lived in Mexico City—a total of 11,645 Africans. Whites numbered only 9,495 (Boyd-Bowman, “Slave Trade” 414). Census data from Michoacan, Nueva Galicia, Tlaxcala, Yucatan, Oaxaca, and Chiapas indicates that whites were in the minority there as well. At this time, 14,711 whites lived in Mexico as opposed to 20,064 blacks and mulattoes (Beltran, poblacion negra 204; Kamen 96). These figures testify to the aggressiveness Spaniards demonstrated in expanding the colonial economy for their imperial needs. It is logical that they would emphasize slavery. Africans proved ideally suited to Spanish labor needs because they adapted to climate changes, became available in large numbers, and had been used previously in other coun- tries. But slaves were neither easy nor cheap to transport. The demand had to be great for the Spanish to go to the trouble and expense of acquiring them. As the slave trade progressed, it evolved into an informal and irregu- lar institution. Slavery became less elitist and more common (Beltran, “Slave Trade” 412-14; Brady 284-85). Private exchanges became more frequent. Spaniards frequently included slaves in the sales of equipment and property —a testament to Hispanic opinion of their bondsmen being