Black ladino

For other uses of "Ladino" see Ladino (disambiguation)

Black Ladinos were Spanish-speaking black Africans exiled to the Americas after spending time in Castile .They were often referred to as negros ladinos ("cultivated" or "latinized Blacks"), as opposed to negros bozales (i.e., those captured in Africa). The Ladinos' skills granted them a higher price than those of bozales. Those Blacks born in the Americas were negros criollos ("Creole Blacks")

History

Prior to the arrival of Columbus to the Americas, there were Black or Moorish African slaves in the Iberian Peninsula, brought either through the Arabic slave trade or from the Castilian and Portuguese. After some time in the Spanish society, these slaves become Christianized and learnt Spanish. There were 50 000 Black Ladinos in Spain in the 15th century

After the initial stages of the Spanish colonization of the Americas showed that Amerindians were not suitable for the labour that the conquerors required (mainly due to the Eurasian illnesses unknown in the Americas), Nicolás de Ovando decided to bring slaves from Spain. Between 1502 and 1518, Castile exiled hundreds of black slaves, primarily to work as miners. Opponents of their enslavement cited their Christian faith and their repeated attempts of escape to the mountains or to join the Native Americans in revolt. Proponents declared that the rapid diminution of the Native American population required a consistent supply of reliable low-cost workers. Free Spaniards were reluctant to do manual labor or to remain settled (especially after the discovery of gold on the mainland), and only slave labor assured the economic viability of the colonies.

Slavery had been part of Spanish society long before their colonisation of the Americas and mostly Africans were legally imported directly after the Spanish conquest. They were known as Ladinos, Africans who had either lived or were born in Spain. Some were prisoners, or descendants of prisoners, captured in the long wars against the Moorish Kingdoms in southern Spain and forced to adopt Christianity. Others had reached Spain over the numerous slave routes that crossed the Sahara desert. Around 10000 ladinos were living in Seville in 1492, and it was quite common to find ladino crewmen working alongside free sailors on the Spanish expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries, or as 'companions' or 'assistants' to the Conquistadors (the Spanish 'conquerors' of the Aztec and Inca Empires). The Spanish permitted the ladinos certain privileges, including the right to buy their freedom. However, their independent spirit worried the Spanish colonists, who pinned their hopes on the more 'docile' and 'stable' bozales (African born slaves). Legal imports of bozales were sanctioned in 1518, but they proved to be just as determined to resist their oppressors and win back their freedom as the ladinos.

Examples

• Estevanico (c. 1500–1539), a Berber captured by the Portuguese and sold to a Spanish Conquistador.
• The slaves in the schooner La Amistad were Mendes captured in Africa but were described as Ladinos by their Cuban buyers to avoid the ban on international slave trade.

See also

• Afro-Spaniard: Current inhabitants of Spain of African descent.
• Emancipados: Black Spanish Guineans who enjoyed a special status by their Roman Catholic and Spanish education.

External links

• Template:Es icon La procedencia de los esclavos negros en Sevilla, "The provenience of black slaves in Seville".
• Template:Es icon Léxico Hispanoamericano del siglo 16, page 515, Peter Boyd-Bowman, Tamesis, 1971. Examples of the usage of ladino in 16th-century Spanish.
• Template:Es icon Hermandad Los Negritos, a Roman Catholic brotherhood in Seville, claiming to date from the 14th century, originally for Black Christians.