The Liberalisation of the Slave Trade in the Spanish Caribbean, 1784-1791

Culture & History Digital Journal 8(1) June 2019, e014 ISSN 2253-797X doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2019.014 A Caribbean Affair: The Liberalisation of the Slave Trade in the Spanish Caribbean, 1784-1791 José Luis Belmonte Postigo Universidad de Sevilla. Facultad de Geografía e Historia. Departamento de Historia de América. C/ Doña María de Padilla, s/n, 41004 Sevilla e-mail: [email protected] ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-4625 Submitted: 07 October 2018. Accepted: 03 February 2019 ABSTRACT: The liberalisation of the slave trade in the Spanish Caribbean ended with a series of political measures which aimed to revitalise the practice of slavery in the region. After granting a series of monopoly contracts (asien- tos) to merchant houses based in other western European nations to supply slaves to Spanish America, the Spanish monarchy decided to liberalise import mechanisms. These reforms turned Cuba, especially Havana, into the most important slave trade hub within the Spanish Caribbean. Havana was connected with both Atlantic and inter-colonial trade networks, while other authorised ports imported slaves from other Caribbean territories; Spanish, British, Dutch, Danish and American traders all participated in this trade, and slave trafficking became the most profitable form of commerce in the region during this period. KEYWORDS: Atlantic Slave trade; Intercolonial trade; Cuba; Venezuela; Puerto Rico; Santo Domingo. Citation / Cómo citar este artículo: Belmonte Postigo, José Luis (2019) “A Caribbean Affair: The Liberalisation of the Slave Trade in the Spanish Caribbean, 1784-1791”. Culture & History Digital Journal, 8 (1): e014. https://doi.org/10.3989/ chdj.2019.014 RESUMEN: Un asunto caribeño. La liberalización del comercio de esclavos en el Caribe hispánico, 1784-1791.- La liberalización del comercio de esclavos en el Caribe hispánico culminó una serie de medidas políticas que trata- ron de revitalizar el esclavismo en la región. Tras firmar dos contratas para el abastecimiento de esclavos, la monar- quía española decidió flexibilizar los mecanismos para su introducción. Esta política confirmó a Cuba, especialmente a La Habana, como la región esclavista más importante. Mientras La Habana estuvo conectada al comercio atlántico de esclavos, además de a circuitos intercoloniales, el resto de puertos habilitados obtuvieron sus esclavos de otros territorios caribeños, gracias al aporte de comerciantes españoles, británicos, holandeses, daneses y estadounidenses, constituyéndose este comercio regional como dominante en este periodo. PALABRAS CLAVE: Comercio atlántico de esclavos; Comercio intercolonial; Cuba; Venezuela; Puerto Rico; San- to Domingo. Copyright: © 2019 CSIC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. On May 17 1789, the English frigate Mosley Hill, followed the granting of asiento to the Liverpool-based captained by Joseph Fayrer, moored in La Guaira. Be- trading house Baker and Dawson,2 which owned the ship. tween 1785 and 1789, the ship had undertaken four voy- The ship had left the coast of Benin and, after touching at ages to and from harbours such as Bonny in West Africa Trinidad, sailed straight to La Guaira. There, the captain, and La Guaira, Trinidad, and Havana.1 These voyages along with the Liverpool company´s representative, Phil- 2 • José Luis Belmonte Postigo ip Langton, approached the Intendente of Caracas, Juan in the Río de la Plata). This paper argues that the coexis Gillelmi, to ask whether the 453 slaves in the ship’s hold tence of Caribbean and Atlantic slave routes was essential could be considered part of the recently expired asiento. in keeping up with Havana’s high demand for slaves, and On February 28 1789, the liberalisation of the market had this turned the city into the main slave market in the brought Baker and Dawson’s to an end, but conditions es- Spanish Caribbean. Although other territories were also tablished in the terms of the agreement were to still apply affected by the liberalisation process, they never experi- to Baker and Dawson ships that had left Europe before enced a commensurate development of the slave trade the date of the proclamation. Once the Intendente con- system. The arrival of slaves to the Spanish Caribbean firmed that the contract still applied to the Mosley Hill’s was made possible through the combined actions of Brit- enslaved Africans, Baker and Dawson´s representatives ish agents, Americans (connected with Atlantic networks) asked him to summon local landowners to whom they and, especially, Spanish buyers, who acquired slaves in could sell the slaves. Neither Fayrer nor Langton were colonies such as Jamaica, Dominica, Curaçao, and the willing to risk unloading the slaves before the buyers Danish West Indies (O’Malley and Borucki, 2017: 315- were guaranteed. The meeting took place, but the results 338). The arrival of slaves directly from Africa chiefly af- were not as expected because the hacendados from Cara- fected the port of Havana, although, most of the slaves cas demanded be allowed to buy the slaves on credit, with arriving in Cuba came from other Caribbean dominions. the money to be paid in instalments, offering neither pre- Spain’s inability to establish direct supply centres in West cious metal nor other assets as a guarantee. As a result, Africa strengthened regional Caribbean trade circuits, in Fayrer and Langton decided to set sail for Havana, the which Spanish merchants played a major role, albeit not a main slave market in the Spanish Caribbean, where they dominant one, largely as purchasers of slaves (Pearce, hoped to sell their cargo. 2014). Fayrer’s decision is neither surprising nor unprece- dented; along with William Forbes, the skipper of the SEEKING A PANACEA: SpanISH DEPENDENCE frigate Garlant, he had previously gone to Havana to sell ON BRITISH TRADERS those slaves that could not be sold in La Guaira. These expeditions linked the three main locations in the Spanish The end of the War of Jenkins’ Ear had serious reper- Caribbean where Baker and Dawson introduced slaves cussions for Spanish policies regarding slavery. A few from 1784 onwards. In late 1788, the demands of the Ha- years after this event, in 1750, Spain and Great Britain vana oligarchy, which was tremendously influential in signed the Treaty of Madrid, which brought the British Madrid, drove the monarchy to refuse to renew the asien- asiento to an end (Donoso, 2007: 105-144). During this to and to liberalise the slave trade in the ports of Havana, same year, the Spanish monarchy decided to stop return- Santiago de Cuba (in this case, for Spanish ships only), ing fugitive slaves to Britain and Holland (their main Santo Domingo, San Juan de Puerto Rico and, La Guaira competitors during the war), thereby transforming trans- and Puerto Cabello, in the Province of Caracas. This imperial marronage into a tool for international diploma- measure opened up free trade links between Spanish ter- cy (Rupert, 2013:199-232; Belmonte, 2017: 43-70; ritories, and their main slave-supply regions, which were Aizpurúa, 2008: 81-94). These measures aimed to rid located in ‘neighbouring foreign colonies’ rather than on Spain of its previous dependence on British slave suppli- the western coast of Africa. ers. When the British asiento had been in force, however, The Liberalisation of the slave trade proclaimed in Jamaica had played a major role in the intra-regional February 1789 provided a major boost to the slave trade, slave trade to Cuba as the main redistribution centre for significantly increasing the number of arrivals. Cuba slaves who had survived the Middle Passage (García profited more than any other territory from this measure, Rodríguez, 2008: 189-214). Thus the implementation of since it absorbed most of the new arrivals. In addition, the the monarchy’s new policy was riddled with difficulties liberalisation of the trade suppressed the barriers that oth- from the start. The creation of the Compañía Gaditana de er colonial powers had faced before this date. In fact, the Negros, in 1765, was the most daring attempt to create a new legal framework legitimised and regulated previous trade structure that could operate independently of the contraband practices, which played a crucial role in main- major British dealers. However, its inability to acquire taining the cohesion of the Caribbean. Jamaica, Domini- slaves directly from West Africa, along with the unwise ca, Saint Thomas, and Saint Croix, among others, became decision to establish the company’s headquarters in San the main suppliers of slaves to the Spanish territories, act- Juan de Puerto Rico, where demand for slaves was sig- ing as middlemen between the Spanish Caribbean and the nificantly lower than in other territories such as Cuba, West African coast (O’Malley, 2014: 271). made the company unviable. Its bankruptcy forced the Havana, however, was an exception to this general monarchy to reach a series of compromises in order to model because it served as a hub for both inter-Caribbean save the project. The company was restructured with an commercial circuits and for French slave merchant with increased capital base thanks to investments from Cuban Africa s who traded in Africa.n -Caribbean commercial merchants, such as Enrile, who moved the company’s circuits and for British, American, and to a lBritish, headquarters to Havana in 1773.3Between 1773 and 1779, American, and French slave merchants arriving directly

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