Freedom at the fringes? Slave flight and empire-building in the early modern Spanish borderlands of Essequibo–Venezuela and Louisiana–Texas

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn spaces of contested sovereignty, self-emancipated slaves exploited imperial rivalries to attain freedom, based on the Spanish religious sanctuary. However, the status of foreign escaped slaves always remained subject to issues of empire-building. This article focuses on fugitive slaves from the Dutch colony of Essequibo and territorial Louisiana looking for freedom at the southern and northern borderlands of the Spanish empire, respectively, in Venezuela and Texas. In the former, increased Spanish control over the borderland created more opportunities for ‘runaways’. In the latter, improvisation led to erratic policies, related to pressure from US planters.