First Blacks In The Americas

Both free and enslaved blacks arrived since early on The first person of African descent known to have arrived in La Española in modern times was a Juan Moreno or Juan Prieto (John the Black), a free –by all indications—young Black man who accompanied Columbus as a servant in the 1492 and 1493 expeditions (see Manuscript […]

Introduction Black people began to arrive in La Española with the first transatlantic expedition led by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and continued to do so throughout the sixteenth century, either as free individuals, as servants, or, mostly, as enslaved laborers; either under legal permits issued by the Spanish monarchy or smuggled in as contraband in legally […]

Timeline This timeline includes the main facts about the early black inhabitants of La Española that resided in the colony between the 1490s and the 1610s as they appear mentioned in the documents contained in this platform. 1490 1500 1510 1520 1530 1540 1550 1560 1570 1580 1590 1600 1610 1492 – Young free black man […]

Glossary This glossary describes the meanings of some of the words in the manuscripts of this website that present an old Spanish spelling or may be no longer in use in standard contemporary Spanish. a b c d e f g h i j l m n o p r s t v y z […]

The growth of the black population in La Española in the 1500s Since the arrival of the first known Blacks on the island of La Española during the two decades following Columbus’ 1492 expedition, the long term trend in population of Black African ancestry in the island-colony was predominantly one of growth throughout the century. This growth accelerated until […]

Urgent need for more research One of the objectives of First Blacks in the Americas is to stimulate and encourage the initiation and production of additional research into the existing historical-archival sources that contain the bits and pieces of historical data necessary to continue reconstructing the history of Black people in the Dominican Republic and the rest of the […]

An almost total lack of iconography One of the most challenging, and somewhat frustrating, circumstances in the study, research, and learning about the earliest Black peoples that inhabited the colony of La Española during the centuries of modernity is the near-total lack of known visual records or representations of that population produced at the time they lived. […]

The maps in this website Maps are useful tools in the building of our historical knowledge about societies and peoples, giving us information about the relative locations and physical environments where historical events occurred. Two types of maps are reproduced in this platform, ancient maps and didactic maps. Old maps give us, even if in a partial […]

The Archival Manuscripts The main, and most abundant, primary sources of information about the inhabitants of La Española (Black and otherwise) during the centuries of its colonial period, which is the same as to say its early period of formation as a multiethnic society in modern times, are the manuscripts or hand-written documents produced by those who enjoyed […]

Structure The core of the First Blacks in the Americas platform is formed by a series of thematic historical overviews on general aspects of the early history of Black people in La Española (Arrival, Demographics, Economy, Resistance, Manumission, Women, etc.) as well as by a set of resources consisting of a collection of primary sources, in the […]