Slavery and Human Rights in the Spanish Empire

Abstract

This chapter presents the historical background for the texts studied in the book. It gives an introduction to the special traits of the Spanish history of slavery, and its lack of similarity and synchronicity with the history of other colonial empires. A brief overview of the simultaneous enslavement of Native Americans and Africans is provided. The chapter presents the human rights thinking in the Spanish Empire in the early period (late fifteenth century until mid-sixteenth century) with special attention paid to Bartolomé de las Casas. In the Cuban context, intellectuals who are partially inspired by Las Casas such as Félix Varela, José Antonio Saco, and Domingo del Monte are presented. The intro argues that there is an intellectual link between the formulations of the rights of the Native Americans in the sixteenth century and the rights of enslaved Africans in the nineteenth century.