Bobures census records enslaved people across cacao estates

Juana de Villanueva, identified in Caracas records as a free Black woman, petitioned the cabildo for a portion of a lot. Her request appears in the same set of municipal records that register other...

A Caracas officer reported that on 4 June an enslaved man belonging to alcalde Pedro Hurtado Monasterios delivered a paper warning that thirteen enemy ships were expected on the coast. The cabildo...

A census of the Chama Valley listed enslaved people by estate and recorded marriages, children, and family ties. It also noted spouses living in Mérida or on another property, showing how ownership...

A census dated 19 November covered enslaved Black men in the towns of Tucani and Torondoy, in the jurisdiction of Mérida. The record’s date and place connect the counting of enslaved people to rural...

A census for the Valle del Río de Castro, within Mérida’s jurisdiction, listed twenty-one enslaved Black men across estates. Some entries preserve names, kin relationships, and African or locally born...

A Caracas cabildo land register, described as a “sensuario a solares,” names nineteen Black, mulatto, and morena women. Some are explicitly identified as free; the record does not establish that every...

A Cocorote mine register recorded the death of Antonio Cachanga, an enslaved Black man, on 4 July 1662. The entry notes three yards of coarse cloth used for his burial shroud. Its attention to the...

On 27 August 1663, a Cocorote register recorded the death of Juan Bran, an enslaved man, and the cotton cloth used for his shroud. The entry preserves his name but little else about his life. Paired...

The Cocorote mine register records that Miguel, described as a married enslaved man, died on 16 October 1663. It lists the cotton cloth used for his burial. The record briefly makes visible a family...

Caracas cabildo minutes record an official asking for the whereabouts of Francisco de Aguirre Villela. Manuel, described as his enslaved mulatto, replied that his master was in the countryside. The...