[2], Slaves were bound to their master's lands, until one's debt was paid to his master.

The exact origins of the Aztec people are uncertain, but they are believed to have begun as a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers whose name came from their homeland Aztlan, or “White Land” in the Aztec language of Nahuatl. After defeating Velázquez’s forces, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan on June 24, 1520, to find the city in revolt against his proxy. The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350s. [2] In the event of a nobleman's death, slaves could be killed, and buried with him, to assist him in the underworld, as they assisted him in life. Her linguistic skills would prove crucial to Cortés’s invasion plans, and she became his interpreter as well as his concubine. With the rise of Islam, and the conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula in the eighth century, slavery declined in remaining Iberian Christian kingdoms. Slaves could be used for any sort of work, however In practice most slaves often found themselves as servants in the palaces of lords. In 1428, under their leader Itzcoatl, the Aztecs formed a three-way alliance with the Texcocans and the Tacubans to defeat their most powerful rivals for influence in the region, the Tepanec, and conquer their capital of Azcapotzalco. During this setback for the conquistador, the Aztec warriors managed to regain lost ground and rebuild the city’s fortifications, pushing the Spanish onto the defensive for nearly three weeks. This institution of forced labor was initially employed by the Spaniards in the Canary Islands following their conquest, but the Guanche (Canarian) population precipitously declined. José Luis de Rojas the author of Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire states that one of the most respected positions an Aztec commoner could obtain was the role of “Tealtiani" or the person responsible for the cleansing of slaves before sacrifice.

But in 2015 and 2018, archeologists working at the Templo Mayor excavation site in Mexico City discovered proof of widespread human sacrifice among the Aztecs—none other than the very skull towers and skull racks that conquistadors had described in their accounts. Conquered Muslims were enslaved with the justification conversion and acculturation, but Muslim captives were often offered back to their families and communities for cash payments (rescate). Finally, on August 13, 1521, the city fell. More slaves arrived in Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto, and in the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida. These first Africans, who had been enslaved in Europe before crossing the Atlantic, may have spoken Spanish and perhaps were even Christians. [2] The practice consisted of two systems: Slave owners were required to provide food, water, and shelter for their slaves. However, it was not a unified process. They used it as a base to supply the Caribbean and the lower Thirteen Colonies. In the face of their unstoppable advance, Moctezuma stalled for time, allowing the Spaniards and their allies to enter Tenochtitlan unopposed in November 1519. The Aztec outnumbered the Spanish, but that didn't stop Hernán Cortés from seizing Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, in 1521. Prior to the Spanish colonization of the Americas, slavery was a common institution among some Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples, particularly the Aztecs. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquerors, their indigenous allies, and the defeated Aztecs.

Invaders led by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés overthrew the Aztec Empire by force and captured Tenochtitlan in 1521, bringing an end to Mesoamerica’s last great native civilization. To appease the Spaniards, he sent envoys and gifts to Cortés, but he only succeeded in inflaming Cortés’s desires for more Aztec riches. It was rediscovered on 17 December 1790 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral. Tannenbaum and the Debates on Slavery, Emancipation, and Race Relations in Latin America,". [45] [22], Another form of forced labor used in the New World with origins in Spain was the encomienda, on the model of the award of the labor to Christian victors over Muslims during the reconquista.

The keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood. All Rights Reserved.

Bustling markets such as Tenochtitlan’s Tlatelolco, visited by some 50,000 people on major market days, drove the Aztec economy. [2] The body parts of sacrificed slaves could be taken home and eaten with maize and salt as an extension of their sacrifice. Just look at the gladiator battles of Imperial Rome or the mass burials of servants and captives alongside Egyptian pharaohs and Chinese kings. Even so, the siege of Tenochtitlan was not a given. [3] If granted, the slaves would then be washed, given new clothes (not owned by the master), and declared free. Guns, germs, and horses brought Cortés victory over the mighty Aztec empire. According to Dr. Michael Smith slaves for sale in the market all were identified by their large wooden collars. "Slave Law and Claims Making in Cuba: The Tannenbaum Debate Revisited. In 1511 he joined an expedition to conquer Cuba and was appointed secretary to the island's first colonial governor, Diego Velázquez.

The Spanish eventually introduced African slaves into society as a source of labor, and they bred with the Spanish and the Aztecs to and developed the ‘mulatto’ community (Darwin 64). [49], Demand for African slaves was high and the slave trade was controlled by the Portuguese, who set up trading posts on the west coast of Africa. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Tenoch was a ruler of the Mexicas (Aztecas) during the fourteenth century during the Aztec travels from Aztlán to Tenochtitlan. "In the Shadow of Slavery: Historical Time, Labor, and Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century Alta Verapaz, Guatemala". Captured people were sacrificed to feed the hungry Aztec gods. [20], Both the Spanish and the Portuguese colonized the Atlantic islands off the coast of Africa, where they engaged in sugar cane production following the model of Mediterranean production. Martínez, María Elena. The Spanish outlawed its own slave trade of Africans. [2] In the event of a nobleman's death, slaves could be killed, and buried with him, to assist him in the underworld, as they assisted him in life. By the early 16th century, the Aztecs had come to rule over up to 500 small states, and some 5 to 6 million people, either by conquest or commerce. They combined forces to defeat the Mexica of Tenochtitlan over a two-year period. During Cortes’s absence, Alvarado’s execution of many Aztec chiefs enraged the people. Slaves could be bought for 30 cotton garments called "quachtli." The Spanish progressively restricted and outright forbade the enslavement of Native Americans in the early years of the Spanish Empire with the Laws of Burgos of 1512 and the New Laws of 1543. The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D. Instead of engaging in violent battles to the death, the Aztecs and Tlaxcalans agreed to fight so-called “Flower Wars,” ceremonial battles in which the goal was to capture, not kill, as many enemy combatants as possible. In the Aztec religion, Huitzilopochtli is a deity of war, sun, human sacrifice, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. [2] For example, slaves were selected to be ixiptla, which is a representation of a god. Slaves who could entertain their masters with a talent, such as by singing or dancing, were more expensive, and could cost upwards of 25 percent more.

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