Captivity and Redemption: Aspects of Slave Life in Early Colonial Quito and Popayán

Abstract

In mid-July 1594 a notary recorded the last wishes of an elite woman on her deathbed in Quito. Ysabel de Baeza was a native of the old Kingdom of Granada, a four-time widow, owner of some houses in Seville and a modest estancia in Ambato, a few days' ride south of Quito. She also claimed five slaves: Magdalena and her four children, Luisa, Felipe, Juan, and Antón. Doña Ysabel's real estate was to go mostly to her children and grandchildren in Quito, but the fate of the slaves was more carefully circumscribed. Magdalena would serve her dying master's daughter for four years, after which she would be freed. Luisa was to serve Baeza's granddaughter, Leonor de Ayala, and Felipe a great-grandson, Alonso Bonifaz, both “until the time when they ransom themselves (se rescaten) and give each one on their own behalf four hundred pesos of current silver.” The younger Juan and Antón were to stay in the household of Baeza's executors until they also freed themselves, each for 300 pesos. The slaves were not to be sold by these temporary masters, and the 1,400 pesos thus collected was to be placed in a chaplaincy fund (capellanía) administered by Quito's Augustinians. The masses thus financed by the self-redemption of Ysabel Baeza's slaves would in turn help release her soul from the temporary captivity and untold pain of Purgatory.

Enslaved rebels, fugitives, and litigants: the resistance continuum in colonial quito

“…As these historians have suggested, the institution of slavery had profound implications upon the larger society even in areas such as colonial New Spain, where slavery was neither the predominant method of dividing labor, nor marked by the eminence of a plantation complex (Bennett 2003, 14-15). And as Herman Bennett (2003), Kris Lane (2003), and Steven A. Epstein (2001) all seem to suggest, the 'ethos of slavery,' specifically its power discourse, held profound significance for racial, gender, and social perceptions in many societies that would fall outside of the traditional definition of a 'slave society'-where slavery formed the foundation of economic production, and the master-slave relationship served as the 'model for all social relations' (Berlin 1997, 8).…”

“…Second, ships carrying trade goods, slaves, and travelers en route from Panama to Callao were prone to run ashore near this location, and needed safe passage to the highlands or to another coastal port. Third, Esmeraldas represented a potential haven for future maroons who might leave their masters and join this Afro-Amerindian stronghold, thereby weakening the crown's grip upon this area and perhaps the entire region (Lane 2002;Phelan 1967). Concerns about maroon settlements within the jurisdiction of Quito were not restricted to the coastal areas of the kingdom.…”

“…See for example Bowser (1974), Brockington (2000), Blanchard, (1992), and Lockhart (1968). For works addressing the implications of overtly radical behavior by slaves in other parts of the Americas see Gaspar (1985), da Costa (1994), dos Santos Gomes (2002), Hall (1971;, Mullin (1972), Nishida (1993), Schwartz (1992) and Reis (1993 (Bennett 2003;Lane 2003). As these historians have suggested, the institution of slavery had profound implications upon the larger society even in areas such as colonial New Spain, where slavery was neither the predominant method of dividing labor, nor marked by the eminence of a plantation complex (Bennett 2003, 14-15).…”

“…Epstein (2001) all seem to suggest, the 'ethos of slavery,' specifically its power discourse, held profound significance for racial, gender, and social perceptions in many societies that would fall outside of the traditional definition of a 'slave society'-where slavery formed the foundation of economic production, and the master-slave relationship served as the 'model for all social relations' (Berlin 1997, 8). In the case of Quito, not only did the Baroque concept of captivity (based fundamentally upon African slavery) help to order society, informing the construction of many social relations (Lane 2003), Quito also possessed the principal characteristics of typical mainland Spanish American slave societies: the emergence of Africans first within the urban centers of colonial power, an immediate (at times simultaneous) extension of African slave labor to the rural periphery, and the commingling of diverse racial and ethnic pools of laborers, enslaved, free and/or coerced (Bennett 2003, 14-15). For more on traditional definitions and characterizations of slave societies see Berlin (1998) and Genovese (1971).…”

“…Among other things, Auncibay requested that the crown purchase 1,000 Africans with an equal number of males and females. And, as several scholars have pointed out, ensuring that slave groupings were balanced in age and gender was thought to promote marriage, which would thereby effectively pacify African male captives (Davidson 1996;Lane 2000).…”