Historical Organization
Cabildo of Caracas
Cabildo of Caracas
Details
Organization Timeline
Caracas's cabildo considers 500 enslaved people for resale on credit
📅 14 April 1599Caracas councilors discussed obtaining 500 enslaved people on credit for sale to local residents. The proposal reveals the cabildo's role in expanding the human trade through local credit; the meeting...
Caracas's cabildo petitions to bring 1,000 enslaved Africans to Venezuela
📅 30 July 1603The Caracas cabildo petitioned the Crown for permission to bring 1,000 enslaved Africans into the province. This is a record of local officials seeking a larger coerced workforce, not evidence that...
Caracas orders shopkeepers to stop trading with enslaved Black and mulatto people
📅 20 October 1614A cabildo order told shopkeepers not to conduct business with enslaved Black and mulatto people. The notice was proclaimed by Juan, a mulatto in a city official's service. It records restrictions on...
Salvador, a Black public crier, appears in Caracas council records
📅 18 June 1616The Caracas cabildo record identifies Salvador, a Black man, as a public town crier. The brief entry offers evidence of an African-descended person performing a visible civic role, while the record...
A captain contributes three enslaved people to the campaign against Nirgua
📅 30 October 1624During preparations to pacify Nirgua, Captain Juan Pérez Hurtado contributed three enslaved people. The cabildo record situates enslaved labor within colonial military expansion against Indigenous...
Caracas's cabildo seeks hundreds of enslaved workers amid disease and land expansion
📅 27 July 1667Councilors cited the deaths of enslaved people from disease and the loss of Indigenous labor while proposing that the Crown license 500 or 1,000 more enslaved Africans. The record links epidemic...
Caracas forms a new government while slavery remains intact
📅 19 April 1810Caracas’s cabildo removed Spanish officials and formed a new governing body, beginning the revolutionary process that led to independence. Pardo representation appeared in the municipal act, but the...