Date: 1501
Location: Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic and Haiti
Category: Slavery
Spanish colonization of Hispaniola brought disease, violence, displacement, and forced labor that devastated Indigenous Taíno communities. In 1501, Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella authorized Governor Nicolás de Ovando to bring enslaved Black people to the colony, expanding the colonial labor system as the Taíno population declined. At first, only ladinos, enslaved Africans from the Iberian Peninsula who were already Christian, could be sent to Hispaniola. In 1518, Spain began authorizing direct shipments of enslaved Africans from Africa to its American colonies. These policies expanded African enslavement across the Caribbean and the wider Americas for centuries.
