Asiento de Negros
The Asiento de Negros (literally: Treaty on Blacks ) was a contract of the Spanish crown in the form of an Asientos on the importation of African slaves into Spanish America , which was concluded with different contractual partners and contents from the 16th to 18th centuries.
Content of the contract
The Asiento de Negros represented the attempt to solve the problem of labor shortages in Spanish America by importing slaves and at the same time to maintain the system of monopoly trade with its own colonies.
Although the ASIENTO learned over time depending on the contractor and international political economy many modifications, but some general characteristics can basically find. The Asiento de Negros was closed for a period between five and 30 years and allowed the import of approx. 4000 to 5000 slaves annually. The number of slaves was given either per capita, in pieza de India or according to the size of the slave ships in tons (three piezas de India per ton were calculated), so the number of people actually transported fluctuated. The losses to be expected due to the high mortality of the slaves during the crossing were also included in the agreements, so that the contractors were allowed to use slaves beyond the actually agreed quota even after the end of the contract period (between 20% and 40% the agreed number) to deliver to America. The contract also stipulated the ports of call in Africa, Europe and America. On the other hand, the contractor undertook to pay a certain sum of taxes, which was between 100 and 212 eighth pieces per slave or pieza de India, and to borrow a loan to the Spanish crown on exceptionally favorable terms. The fees were paid annually or as a one-off payment on the scope of delivery agreed in the contract, regardless of the number of slaves actually delivered. Since the last quarter of the 17th century, the Asiento allowed the delivery of traditional merchandise to Spanish America at the expense of the contractor, with the number and size of the ships being precisely specified.
history
First of all, the Spaniards forced the indigenous population into labor services for the economic exploitation of the New World , which on the one hand resulted in their decimation and on the other hand raised objections to this system, especially from the church. As early as the first decades of the 16th century, work began on replacing the local workforce with African slaves for work in the mines and on the plantations .
Although African slaves were brought to the New World soon after the European discovery of America , the story of the Asiento de Negros does not begin until 1585. Until then, the Spanish administration granted individual licenses for the transatlantic slave trade for personal merit or to cover government bonds . However, the beneficiaries were often barely able to carry out the trade, so that although there was a lively trade in the licenses, the expected workforce did not reach America in sufficient numbers.
The Portuguese-Spanish throne union in 1580 gave Spain the opportunity to place the slave trade in experienced hands for the first time, without having to allow members of a foreign kingdom to enter America. After all, the Portuguese had sailed along the west coast of Africa since the middle of the 15th century, established factories there and started trading African slaves to Europe and later America.
After the defection of Portugal from Spain in 1640, the problem of the slave trade arose again for Spain, as they did not want to leave the profitable trade to a province that was regarded as rebellious. As a result, the Asiento was awarded to various internationally active merchants and trading houses. The supply of these Asian owners with African slaves was subject to fierce competition between all European countries with interests in intercontinental trade. Finally, after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, England monopolized the slave trade to Spanish America via an Asiento, which was signed over to an international treaty for 30 years. After the end of the English Asiento in 1750, after a transition phase in which licenses were issued again, the contract went to a Spanish company, which held it with small interruptions until 1779, when Spain started trading for fear of supply shortages due to another war with England opened with slaves for all Spaniards.
The Portuguese phase
The first Asiento was signed with Pedro Gomez Reynel in 1585. He set the pattern for the "Portuguese phase" in the history of the Asiento de Negro that lasted until 1640/41. In the contract it was agreed to deliver 4,250 black slaves to America. In order to compensate for the mortality rate, the contractor was given the right to sell licenses for the transport of 5500 to 6500 African slaves. He used it to refinance the sum of 100,000 ducats to be paid annually to the royal treasury . The Asianist was entitled to trade the number of slaves whose trade he had not sold through licenses himself, but could not refuse the merchants of Seville and Lisbon to sell licenses, the maximum price of which was fixed. The slaves had to be loaded in Seville, Cádiz , Lisbon, the Canary Islands or in Portuguese factories. 500 slaves each were to be delivered to Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic / Haiti ) and Cuba . The port of destination for the remaining quota was determined 15 months in advance as required. Except for Buenos Aires , whose delivery of 600 slaves was reserved to the contractor, the mainland of southern America could not be called. The licensees, exclusively Castilian or Portuguese merchants, were allowed to sell their slaves freely in America and, except with precious metals and products that were reserved for the Casa de Contratación , to return to Europe outside the Indian fleet.
Although the ports, contingents and the amount of taxes varied slightly, the essential characteristics of the Asiento remained unchanged until 1640. On the one hand, this led to uncontrollable smuggling of both slaves and other goods. Because the Asianists tried to negotiate the slaves themselves as far as possible inland, because there were good opportunities for smuggling and large profit margins. On the other hand, the Spanish administration always remained a thorn in the side of the Portuguese immigration to America, which could hardly be prevented due to the slave trade and which was actually reserved for the Castilians. Again and again the contractors were prosecuted and prosecuted. Between 1611 and 1615 they even returned to the licensing system for a time. However, this system failed because of the requirement to leave via Seville. There was also a lack of Portuguese experience in the administration of trade, so that until 1641, when trade with rebels was forbidden and the newly extended Asiento became obsolete, they returned to the Asian system with Portuguese merchants.
The international phase
After licenses had been issued to various merchants until 1662, with an overall unsatisfactory result, the Spanish administration concluded an Asiento that year with the Genoese merchants Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomelin. The contractors should no longer issue licenses, but organize the slave trade themselves. For the first time, with the agreement for the supply of 3500 piezas de India, this counting unit was used in a royal administrative document. The slaves for sale could only be brought to Cartagena , Portobelo or Veracruz . The return loads should be transported within the Spanish fleet system, as far as this was available. For this, the contractors paid 30,000 pesos annually to the state treasury. In addition, this Asiento was linked to a shipbuilding program. The contractors undertook to build ten ships on the Bay of Biscay and to supply the shipyards in Havana , Campeche and Santo Domingo with slaves and shipbuilding materials. The ships of the Asianists had to leave the ports of Andalusia and, apart from the translators, were not allowed to employ any foreigners in the crew. Nationals of states that were at war with Spain were excluded from trading.
All Asientos up to the end of the 17th century were closed according to this pattern, although the number of delivery ports increased over time and the shipbuilding program was replaced by loans or payments for an American coast guard , depending on the needs . For the first time in 1674, the Asiento allowed the dispatch of conventional goods and their sale in American ports.
This phase of the Asian trade was marked by fierce international competition. In the course of the 17th century, almost all western European countries established trading firms on the West African coast and had established themselves on various Caribbean islands . The companies founded in Europe, which were privileged for the overseas trade of their respective states, endeavored to deliver the largest possible contingents of the agreed number of slaves to the contractors via connections to the respective Asian owners. Above all in the Dutch Curaçao and in the English Jamaica slave depots were set up, from which the Asianists supplied themselves. But Swedes and Kurbrandenburgers also participated in the deliveries for the Asiento. Again and again there were intrigues against one or the other Asian owner, some ended up in Spanish prisons, in 1695 one is even said to have been poisoned by the Dutch.
The last Asiento of the 17th century was concluded with the Portuguese Companhia de Cacheu and already refers to the phase of the great intergovernmental treaties when the Asiento advanced to become the diplomatic instrument of European politics. The Portuguese king not only granted the Cacheucompanie a loan to enable the Asiento to be managed at all, but also had four fifths of the company himself. Disputes over the Asian deliveries resulted in difficulties at the highest diplomatic level.
The state Asientos
With the award of the Asiento to France in 1701 and the War of the Spanish Succession , the Asiento finally became an object of European diplomacy . After the death of Charles II of Spain , who had appointed Philip of Anjou as his heir, Spain concluded an Asiento for ten years with the French Henri Ducasse in favor of the newly founded Compagnie de Guinée et de l'Assiente. At the same time, both the French and Spanish kings were contractors in the Asiento. To secure the Spanish succession, an alliance between Portugal, France and Spain was concluded, which, however, stood in the way of the high losses of the Portuguese king in connection with the previous Asiento of the Portuguese company. For the first time, the Asiento was included in an intergovernmental treaty under international law, in which it was agreed within this alliance that the Spanish king would pay the Portuguese king for the losses suffered. France guaranteed payments. The efforts of England to detach Portugal from this alliance and to integrate it into the Grand Alliance failed for a time because of these pecuniary interests, so that the Portuguese king was only ready to change sides when the American silver, which was used to compensate for the losses of the Cacheukompanie had fallen into the hands of the Allies.
At the same time, the transfer of the Asiento to France is an important reason for war, because the British in particular saw themselves deprived of their participation in trade with Spanish America through this measure. A war goal was therefore always to achieve the Asiento for Great Britain. As early as 1706, the British concluded an Asiento with Archduke Charles , who they recognized as King of Spain , which, however, could not be carried out due to the war. Even before the British entered into peace negotiations with Spain, in 1713 they secured the supply of Spanish America with African slaves by means of a 30-year Asiento. In the Peace of Utrecht, the Asiento was written down again. For the first time, the contract was signed between two heads of state and thus finally entered the sphere of international treaties. Both monarchs were involved in a quarter of the business of the South Sea Company founded for the management of the Asiento. The company advanced the contribution of the Spanish king to the undertakings. In addition, the company granted him a loan of 200,000 pesos, which had to be repaid after 20 years. In addition to importing 4800 piezas de India annually, the company was allowed to send a 500-tonne ship with conventional merchandise, the so-called Annual Ship, from London to Portobelo once a year during the fair.
British Asiento lasted until 1750; 1718–1721, 1727–1729 and 1739–1748 it was interrupted by wars. The outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739 was sparked by the implementation of the Asiento, so that in the Peace of Aachen in 1748 the fulfillment of the remaining term of the contract was established. For a transfer fee of 100,000 pounds sterling , he was in 1750 in the Treaty of Madrid officially dissolved.
The final phase
After a renewed licensing phase, the trading house Aguirre, Arístegui y Compañía, better known as Compañía Gaditana, was awarded the Asiento in 1765 . Despite great difficulties in fulfilling the contract, the company held the contract with an interruption in the years 1772/1773 to 1779. However, this Asiento was no longer a pure monopoly, because a few smaller licenses for the slave trade were also issued.
The handover of the islands of Fernando Póo (then: Formosa) and Annobón (Pagalu) in the Gulf of Guinea from Portugal to Spain gave the Spanish more direct access to the west coast of Africa. Another war with England in 1780 led to the opening of the slave trade with northern Spanish America for all Spaniards, a permit that was subsequently gradually expanded. The Asiento was no longer awarded after 1779.
The Asian owners
Many Asia contracts were terminated prematurely, some were still being managed after the contract term and some were passed on to the business partner without a new contract after the death of the contractor. The start of management has also been postponed in some contracts. Therefore, the annual figures mentioned here neither reflect the exact contract period nor the exact management period, but the approximate period of contract ownership. A cross behind a contract partner symbolizes the takeover of the contract by a close employee and successor without a new contract.
- 1595-1601 Pedro Gomez Reynel
- 1602–1603 Juan Rodríguez Coutiño
- 1603-1609 Gonzalo Báez Coutiño
- 1609-1611 Agustin Coello
- 1615–1621 Antonio Fernández de Elvas (or Delvas).
- 1623–1631 Miguel Rodríguez Lamego
- 1631–1641 Melchor Gómez Angel and Cristobal Méndez de Sousa
- There was no Asiento between 1641 and 1662.
- 1662–1674 Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomelín
- 1674–1675 Antonio García
- 1676–1681 Consulado de Sevilla (Seville Merchants' Guild)
- 1676–1679 Manuel Hierro de Castro and Manuel José Cortizos
- 1680–1683 Juan Barroso del Pozo and Nicolas Porcio
- 1683–1685 Nicolás Porcio
- 1685–1686 Balthasar Coymans (November 8, 1686)
- 1686–1688 Jan Carçau
- 1688–1691 Nicolás Porcio
- 1692–1695 Bernardo Francisco Marín de Guzmán
- 1695–1701 Manuel Ferreira de Carvallo as partner and on behalf of the Real Compañía de Cacheu of the Kingdom of Portugal
- 1701–1713 Jean Baptiste du Casse on behalf of the Compagnie de Guinée et de l'Assiente of the Kingdom of France
- 1713–1750 Great Britain, implemented by the South Sea Company (there was no Asiento between 1739 and 1743)
- 1750–1764 ???
- 1765–1772 Miguel de Uriarte in the name of Aguirre, Aristegui y Compañía, better known as Compañía Gaditana
- 1773–1779 Aguirre, Aristegui y Compañía or Compañía Gaditana
meaning
Forced migration
The delivery quantities agreed in the Asia contracts only inadequately reflect the people actually traded under these contracts. On the one hand, the number of slaves in piezas de India was significantly smaller than the number of slaves actually to be delivered. On the other hand, the actual slave trade was the most lossy part of the business for the contractor, so that the delivery of other smuggled goods instead of slaves was a sensible economic decision for the traders. Also, as part of the Asiento traded slaves were always more expensive than those otherwise available, so that the Asianists themselves sold some of their slaves unregistered. Nevertheless, one can assume that the Spanish administration was relatively well informed about the demand for labor in their colonies and so the Asiento figures at least provide information about the need and thus also about the Africans who were forced to migrate to Spanish America. Constant complaints about labor shortages suggest that the demand was never fully met, but with the American historian Philip D. Curtin it can be concluded that although the number of piezas de India was not met, the number agreed in the contracts was roughly indicates the amount of individuals that were delivered to Spanish America. The Asientos give the total of 132,600 people in the years between 1595 and 1640 and 516,100 people between 1641 and 1773 who involuntarily left their homeland and were brought to Spanish America for forced labor . For the last few years, when the Asiento no longer represented a real monopoly, the import figures are estimated at around 14,900 people. The death rate on the crossing between 20% and 40% is not included in this figure.
Monopoly system, immigration and smuggling
Just as the Asiento represented the attempt for the Spanish administration to secure the supply of Spanish America with African workers without giving up the monopoly system and the strict immigration control to America, the Asiento, conversely, often meant the only option for non-Spaniards, not only to participate in trade with Spanish America through straw men . The administrative efforts were therefore doomed from the start. The Portuguese Asianists already used the opportunity to settle in America and do secondary business.
During the international phase, deliveries under the Asiento served the Western European companies for extensive smuggling and opened up direct access to America's silver and raw materials through the sale of slaves and European manufactured goods . The British mainly used the annual ship to sell their manufactured goods in Spanish America. Mostly the ship was accompanied by smaller messengers who reloaded it from Jamaica, so that the limitation to 500 tons of loading capacity remained a fiction. This practice also sparked the disputes that led to the War of Jenkins' Ear. The trip to Buenos Aires was particularly profitable for the contractors, where trade could be carried out with the mine areas of Peru and today's Bolivia , which were mostly poorly supplied by Spain .
The Asiento as a financial instrument
The award of the Asiento provided the Spanish treasury with fixed, annual or all-in-one income. In addition, the contractors often granted loans or took on other public tasks. Since the last years of the 17th century, the monarchs of Portugal, Spain, France and England have been personally involved in the gains and losses of the Asiento. This interweaving of state and private interests ultimately raised the treaty to the level of international law.
The link between the slave trade and public debt was not limited to Spain. The South Sea Company, founded to manage the contract, took over a considerable part of the English national debt.
literature
- Philip D Curtin: The Atlantic Slave Trade . A census. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1969, ISBN 02-990-5400-4 .
- Diccionario de Historia de España , Madrid 1968, ISBN 84-206-5898-7 .
- Marisa Vega Franco: El Trafico de Esclavos con America: asientos de Grillo y Lomelín , 1663–1674, ISBN 84-000-5675-2 .
- Johannes Postma: The Dutch an the Atlantic Slave Trade, Cambridge 1990, ISBN 0-521-36585-6 .
- Georges Scelle : La Traite negrière aux Indes de Castille. Contrats et Traités d'assiento , 2 vols., Paris 1906.
- Elena FS de Studer: La Trata de Negros en el Rio de la Plata durante el siglo XVIII , Buenos Aires 1958.
- Bibiano Torres Ramirez: La Compañía Gaditana de Negros, Seville 1973, ISBN 84-00-03880-0 .
- Enriqueta Vila Vilar: Hispanoamerica y el Comercio de Esclavos, Sevilla 1977, ISBN 84-00-03665-4 .
- Enriqueta Vila Vilar: Los Asientos Portugueses y el contrabando de Negros, in: Anuario de estudios americanos, 30 (1973), ISSN 0210-5810 , pp. 557-609.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Zeuske : Handbook History of Slavery. A global story from the beginning until today. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-027881-1 , p. 516 (accessed via De Gruyter Online)
- ^ Philip D. Curtin: The Atlantic Slave Trade . A census. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1969