Post by Radrook Admin on Jun 14, 2021 8:41:38 GMT -5
Was Puerto Rico a Slave Colony?
Puerto Rico was a slave colony? Oh really? This is a statement that I just encountered on the YouTube discussion board. Does that accusation hold up under scrutiny? No it doesn't. You see, it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that Puerto Rico was granted the right to deal in slavery as the other colonies were. So a significant slave population did not develop there until the 19th century. Before that, it was primarily European Taino. In this sense it is unique. This intense slavery colonial activity only lasted 40 years.
The Royal Decree of Graces of 1789 which set the rules pertaining to the Slaves in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean
In 1789, the Spanish Crown issued the "Royal Decree of Graces of 1789", which set new rules related to the slave trade and added restrictions to the granting of freedman status. The decree granted its subjects the right to purchase slaves and to participate in the flourishing slave trade in the Caribbean. Later that year a new slave code, also known as El Código Negro (The Black Code), was introduced.
That permission to participate in the Caribbean slave trade was granted three hundred years after Puerto Rico’s colonization.