ABSTRACT
Slavery was an accepted practice during the colonial period in Latin America. The largest slave-owning states—Brazil, Cuba, and the United States—were the last to end the institution. In the Spanish Empire, those who benefited from African slavery viewed the status of enslaved Africans in a totally different light from that of “subjugated” Native Americans. Slaves were sold throughout the Caribbean from Havana; at Cartagena, slaves would be forcibly re-settled throughout northern South America. From Portobelo, Panama, slaves were moved across the isthmus to what is known as Panama City and began the long journey down the Pacific, arriving at Guayaquil and Peru, particularly along the north coast, where slaves worked on sugar and cotton plantations. As many as 4–5 million slaves came to Brazil during a 320-year period, and the majority worked during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the thriving northeastern sugar plantations.
