ABSTRACT
Yet it must be said that enslavement and Africans were not necessarily synonymous in the era of Columbus. Nor were the first enslaved Caribbean people Africans. A free African, one Diego, sailed on Columbus’ third voyage. Historian Oviedo listed another African, Nuflo De Olano, among the “Noblemen and Gentlemen of quality” accompanying Spanish Explorer Balboa to the Pacific in 1513. There were African soldiers with Hernando Cortes on his conquest of Mexico, which was launched from Cuba in 1519.
