South Carolina enacts a restrictive slave code after Stono

The asiento contract granted the South Sea Company a monopoly to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish America for thirty years. The contract treated the forced migration of people as a diplomatic...

Enslaved people, many of Akwamu origin, seized the Coral Bay fort and began a sustained uprising against Danish colonial rule. Breffu and other insurgents became leaders in a struggle that lasted...

Spanish authorities established Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose north of St. Augustine, accepting Black people who escaped English Carolina if they converted to Catholicism and served the Crown....

British authorities signed a treaty with Maroon communities led by Cudjoe after prolonged warfare and Maroon resistance. The settlement recognized a degree of autonomy while imposing conditions,...

Enslaved people began a major armed uprising near the Stono River and moved south, seeking freedom in Spanish Florida. Colonial forces violently suppressed the revolt and lawmakers tightened...

After fires and rumors, officials arrested and prosecuted Black residents and poor white people in what became known as the 1741 conspiracy. Many were executed or transported. The episode reveals...

In 1750 the trustees’ restriction on slavery gave way as settlers and planters pressed for plantation labor. Enslaved Africans were brought into the colony in growing numbers. This reversal shows...

An uprising associated with the Akan leader Tacky began at St Mary, Jamaica, and expanded into a broad anti-slavery war. Insurgents attacked plantation infrastructure and sought to overthrow the...

A royal decree declared enslaved people arriving in mainland Portugal free, an important but geographically limited measure. It did not free people in Brazil or Portuguese African territories, and the...

An uprising began on plantations along the Canje River and rapidly spread through Dutch Berbice. Cuffy and other leaders organized a large insurgent force and negotiated with colonial authorities...