Importing the First Africans in 1619: The Piracy Story

slave ships packed humans into holds just below the deck, for a miserable trip across the Atlantic Ocean
slave ships packed humans into holds just below the deck, for a miserable trip across the Atlantic Ocean
Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, Sections of a Slave Ship, from Walsh's notes of Brazil

Portugal established the first trading posts in the western coast of Africa for exporting people as merchandise to Europe. After Spain colonized the Caribbean and then Central America, the royal government issued a license authorizing import of enslaved people from Africa. That license, known as the asiento, enriched the crown and helped manage the number of imported people.

The first Africans were brought to the Western Hemisphere primarily by Portuguese and Spanish slave ships. They were delivered to colonies in Brazil, Central America, and the Caribbean islands throughout the 1500's and 1600's.

English raiders and pirates began stealing people from Portuguese slave ships in the 1560's and selling then to Spanish buyers in the Caribbean.

The English acquired the asiento in 1713, as one of the deals to end the War of the Spanish Succession.1

the first Africans imported to Virginia originated from the Ndonga kingdom in West Africa
the first Africans imported to Virginia originated from the Ndonga kingdom in West Africa
PICRYL, Negroes just landed from a Slave Ship

The Origins of Slavery in Virginia

Pirates in Virginia

Slave Trade in Virginia

slave ships which allowed people on deck were at risk of a mass uprising
slave ships which allowed people on deck were at risk of a mass uprising
Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, The slave deck of the bark "Wildfire"

the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619
the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619
Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, Landing negroes at Jamestown from Dutch man-of-war, 1619

Links

References

1. "The Asiento slave system begins," African American Registry, https://aaregistry.org/story/the-practice-of-asiento-slave-trading-begins/ (last checked February 11, 2021)


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