since 1986 the united nations has marked
december 2nd as the international day
for the abolition of slavery
this date reflects the adoption of a u.n
convention on december 2nd
1949 which sought to address human
trafficking especially of women and
children
people observe this day to bring
attention to the atrocities of modern
day systems of enslavement
in order to one day eradicate its
contemporary forms
though not legally defined modern
systems of enslavement include
forced labor debt bondage forced
marriage and human trafficking
currently over 40 million people are
enslaved across the globe
roughly 62 of these people are held in
conditions of forced labor like domestic
work agricultural work or construction
the remaining 38 are being held in
forced marriages
when many of us think about the term
enslavement at least in the united
states
we often imagine the transatlantic slave
trade
the enslavement of africans and its
lasting consequences
in truth enslavement existed in many
forms alongside the peculiar institution
of travel enslavement
and contemporary forms that continue
until now for more information we have a
playlist of videos that also addresses
this topic
in the other slavery the uncovered story
of indian enslavement in america
historian andres resendez argues that
modern enslavement is a direct legacy of
systems created to enslave indigenous
peoples of the americas
from the earliest stages of colonialism
yes i mean since 1492.
understanding why the enslavement of
indigenous peoples is often overlooked
can give us some insights into how these
legacies continue in old and new ways
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practices of enslavement did not
spontaneously develop in 1619
when the first 20 odd enslaved africans
were trafficked onto the shores of the
future
united states and they weren't even
geographically anchored to north america
in our episode why did europeans enslave
africans we go into detail about the
pre-colonial systems of enslavement
but here's a brief recap tribal warfare
and pillaging in the americas africa and
europe
often resulted in the capture of members
of conquered tribes
victors would often hold captives for
cultural reasons or as forms of
population augmentation
as noted by historian elena e roberts
in the americas the iroquois captured
members of neighboring tribes
in mourning wars to replace deceased
members of their own communities
elites within the tribes of the pacific
northwest gifted enslaved captives as
part of marriage dowries
and aztecs mayas and zapotecs frequently
used captives
for sacrificial religious practices make
no mistake these practices could be
traumatizing for captives
as tribes like the comanche and the
tribes living in the paid and hot region
of north america
would practice forms of torture and what
historian brett rushforth calls
natal alienation in order to strip away
their captives former identities
lives and connections to their natal
tribes so before the acceleration of
european colonization and expansion
being enslaved or being an enslaver
dependent on advantage and happenstance
for millennia whether you were on the
victor side or not in war
battle or even if you were unlucky
enough to be captured during a raid on
your community
meant that almost anyone could be on
either side of that dynamic
but this new form of conquest changed
all that
earlier indigenous cultural practices
though potentially torturous and brutal
were at least not inherited by your
descendants and limited the circulation
of the enslaved within the geographical
bounds of the enslaving tribe
soon european colonization and
enslavement would
shift towards a profit motive that
commodified and circulated bodies on a
global scale
enslavement also became less about
unlucky circumstances
and more about what you looked like this
new form of enslavement developed fairly
soon after the advent of early colonial
conquest
colonization refers to the actual
practices set out
to achieve colonial goals and these
practices are brutal processes of
subjugation dispossession
and expropriation of territories and
peoples in the name of expansion
imperial reach and profit
christopher columbus sent around 550
enslaved indigenous peoples from the
americas
to europe as some of the first
commodities
shipped back with the purpose of putting
them on the market to be sold as
laborers in the mediterranean
eventually other european powers
including the dutch french
english and portuguese began
participating in this trade
trafficking unwilling peoples as
laboring bodies
portugal and eventually england would
come to dominate the trafficking of
africans for the purpose of this new
form of enslavement
spain and its conquistadores spanish for
conquerors
were early beneficiaries of their
enslavement of indigenous peoples in the
americas
spain soon implemented a labor system
called encomienda in their colonies in
the americas and in the philippines
and comianda derives from the spanish
encomendar which roughly translates as
to entrust or to commend the system was
intended to redefine the relationship
between settlers
and the captive native laborers who were
to be treated as new spanish subjects
this system would civilize new subjects
in a twisted attempt at benevolence
and was thought to simultaneously quell
potential uprisings from newly empowered
and two-distant colonial settlers in the
en commander system the crown would
grant conquistadors or prominent
aristocrats plots of land
and set numbers of captured natives in
each new spanish settlement
these grant holders or encomenderros
were responsible for managing native
labor
often with restrictions meant to reduce
already mounting abuses
as the price for protection and
acknowledgement of defeat and comenderos
would demand tributes from their
captives
20 of these tributes were to be
collected by the crown
tributes could include goods and
services like crops mined minerals and
precious metals
currencies sexual acts and of course
their involuntary labor
in exchange for these tributes the crown
and their income endearous would offer
forced conversion and religious
education and catholicism
along with protection what was initially
proposed as a beneficial system for
those new subjects
quickly turned cruel and exploitative
enslavement by another name
and comenderos unsure of the length of
their tenure in power
swiftly began forcing their captives to
labor under brutal conditions
exposure to european disease for the
ravaged indigenous tribes and societies
greatly reducing populations and
comenderos were not to live within the
settlements they controlled
so natives were forced to walk grueling
lengths to pay their tributes
often carrying heavy and cumbersome
offerings
one such incomendero bartolome de las
casas
experienced the cruelty in the new world
first
he eventually wrote the illustrated book
a short account of the destruction of
the indies
in 1542 upon its release the book caused
an uproar and he campaigned for better
treatment of native peoples
by november of that year king charles
the first of spain
grandson of king ferdinand and queen
isabella issued the new laws of the
indies for the good treatment and
preservation of the indians
these new laws stated that all natives
be freed immediately
or at least within one generation and
that they'd be paid fair wages in
exchange for their labor
and commeanda trust would also be
cancelled upon the death of the
incomindero
and the land would not be bequeathed to
their heirs rather the rights were to be
relinquished back to the crown
non-compliance of wealthy and powerful
colonists was common
and many of the laws were not enforced
in fear of rebellion
eventually continued spread of disease
further dwindled the native populations
while beneficiaries of the encomienda
system continued
to exploit the survivors as encominderos
realized their positions would be
short-lived
they continued to work the natives to
death in hopes of gaining wealth quickly
the spanish were extraordinarily
successful at garnering extravagant
levels of wealth for the empire
in latin america and the caribbean the
enforcement of involuntary labors of
natives
who had been enslaved in every way
except in name continued rapaciously
but dwindled populations of native
tribes meant that the english had a
smaller pool of potential captives
and settlers found themselves at a
disadvantage
tribes native to the eastern seaboard
had the ability to fight
on their own turf and garner support
from nearby allies in battle
nevertheless the english exploited
native american groups
according to historian alan gillay from
1670 to 1715
more native americans were exported to
slavery from charleston south carolina
than africans were imported but that
soon waned due to a more lucrative
endeavor
trafficking of african captives to use
for free labor
which replaced natives and white
europeans as go-to-indentured servants
however the enslavement of indigenous
peoples still occurred
it just happened more surreptitiously
often carried out in such a way that it
did not
look like enslavement because of the
formal legalization of enslaved africans
we have archival material like bills of
sale
taxation at ports of entry wills and
sometimes even glimpses of their lives
not technically enslaved indigenous
captives were rarely documented
so there's little historical evidence of
their existence or conditions
over the next two centuries tribal
encounters with colonial forces
not only shifted the nature of
enslavement practices but also expanded
its scale
in the americas european encroachment
offset existing power dynamics among
tribes
and even incentivize them to capture
people from nearby tribes for the
purposes
of human trafficking and enslavement as
settlers and tribes people began to
commingle
tribal leaders often look to legal forms
of chattel enslavement of africans
and illegal means of enslaving people
from other tribes
sometime tribal leaders participated to
prove their civility and ability to
assimilate
close contact and intermarriage often
meant that tribal leaders and elites
were related to nearby settler officials
and truly believed in assimilation
other forms of assimilation like
conversion to christianity and education
in settler schools
only helped to rationalize and encourage
participation in trafficking and
enslavement
yet still for others tribes participated
begrudgingly
only as a last means of survival as
gambits to prevent collapse
or unwanted conflict with federal forces
in the southeast of north america
five civilized tribes participated in
systems of chattel enslavement of
africans and their descendants
these tribes included the seminole the
choctaw the cherokee the creek
and the chickasaw as they were forced
from their land in the 1830s
they walked with their enslaved chattel
from their land in the southeast to what
is now the state of oklahoma abolition
of the slave trade in the united states
did not mean that the system was
abolished worldwide
in fact abolition of enslaved people of
african descent living under the five
tribes would not be carried out until a
year after the 13th amendment was
ratified in the united
states the treaties of 1866 emancipated
the enslaved
and eased conflict between the united
states and the tribal sovereignties
though brazil was the last nation in the
americas to abolish legal enslavement in
1888
other forms continued to exist so why is
native american enslavement so often
overlooked
as is the case with many historical
legislators it's complicated
because enslavement of indigenous
peoples coincided with early colonial
endeavors
and were quickly outlawed settlers found
new ways to force involuntary labor by
other means
often in the name of civilizing them
this illegal status leaves the
historical record lacking
what we do know paints a complicated
portrait
indigenous tribes in the americas can at
times be the enslaved
as well as enslavers or be the enslaved
and become the enslavers at a later time
or vice versa
all depending on the circumstances and
happenstance of colonial encounter with
european settlers
for now we should take some time not to
look back as a means of comparing
relative experiences
and endurances of suffering by different
peoples and their descendants
recognizing the generational
consequences of these traumatic events
is important and necessary work but we
should also realize that systems exist
and existed that warrant unimaginable
cruelty and anguish
it is in our power as historians to
recognize those systems
their origins and legacies and work
towards liberation for all
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you