Juan Pérez de Tolosa opens a second inspection of pearl-fishery labor

A royal decree dated 27 October 1535 instructed officials to investigate illegal enslavement in the province of Venezuela, which the Crown viewed as a center of illicit Indigenous slavery. The measure...

On 17 March 1536, the monarchy required officials to restrict the transportation of enslaved Indigenous people to the Iberian Peninsula unless the governor permitted it. This was a limit on export,...

A royal cédula dated 2 March 1537 is cited in the case of Domingo, described as the son of a prominent man from Gelofe. The published study reports that Domingo ultimately obtained freedom. The cédula...

The New Laws issued at Barcelona prohibited the enslavement of Indigenous people across Spain’s American possessions and required authorities to address abuse. The text also specifically directed...

Bishop Martín de Calatayud began a royal inspection of pearl fisheries on 16 June 1544. His visit examined the treatment and living conditions of Indigenous workers. He ordered better daily food and...

Bishop Miguel Gerónimo de Ballesteros asked the Crown to send 30 enslaved Africans to maintain Coro's acequia and dam, originally built by Indigenous labor. His request linked African enslavement to...

Fundación Empresas Polar’s chronology dates an enslaved African man named Miguel’s escape from punishment at the San Felipe de Buría mines to 30 November 1552. Its account describes his flight as...

A royal decree of 25 June 1558 prohibited the future use of Indigenous people in pearl fishing and specified that Africans could be used for the work. In practice, the measure shifted the burden of...

Royal officers accounted for 123 pesos and one tomín arising from a debt owed by Pedro de Ursúa. The debt was linked to Diego, an enslaved man reportedly brought to the province by Lope de Aguirre and...

On 4 February 1573, Agustín de Ancona asked Caracas’s cabildo for permission to use his enslaved man Francisco as a miner with his own crew. The petition records both the extraction economy and the...