Pieza de India

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Pieza de India (Spanish, literally piece of India) denotes a unit with which African slaves should be consistently counted during the transatlantic slave trade . The unit of measurement has been changed several times over the years, but generally describes a healthy male slave of a certain size and age, which was occasionally combined with the determination of the region of origin. In the Asiento of 1663, for example, three 8–15 year old slaves with two Piezas de India or two four to eight year olds or 35–40 year olds were measured as one Pieza de India.

literature

  • Scelle, Georges , La Traite negrière aux Indes de Castille. Contrats et Traités d'assiento, 2 vols., Paris 1906.
  • Franco, Marisa Vega, El Trafico de Esclavos con America: asientos de Grillo y Lomelín, 1663–1674, ISBN 84-000-5675-2 .