Royal cédula records Domingo’s path to freedom

An inventory of Pedro de Herrera's possessions on Cubagua listed an enslaved African woman with two children. The record exposes how colonial property accounts rendered a family as assets; it does not...

A Cubagua inventory associated with Miguel de Gaviria listed a Black child called Andresico. The surviving entry is brief and framed by ownership records; it offers a rare personal name while...

Francisco Portillo's Cubagua inventory noted an unnamed Black man aboard a vessel. The entry reflects the routine conversion of people into listed property in the pearl economy, while the archive...

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,...

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...

Juan Pérez de Tolosa began another inspection of pearl fisheries on 17 October 1548. During this visita he appointed Pedro de Gámez as a public defender for Indigenous people, empowered to report...

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...