Slavery in a Colonial Mexican City: The Case of Puebla de los Angeles, 1531-1706

What is it about?

This book explains how slave owners and the enslaved negotiated their relationship with each other in the city of Puebla from the 1530s to 1706. By focusing on this important secondary city, the study offers new insights into how slavery differed in specific urban spaces. The textile mill, the elite residence and the convent all offered different constraints and opportunities for enslaved people. The book also offers the first long-durée examination of the Puebla slave market, where at least 20,000 people were sold.

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Photo by Pablo Bustos on Unsplash

Photo by Pablo Bustos on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This book engages the latest studies on the African diaspora and places central Mexico directly within it. Moreover, by acknowledging the complexity of an urban setting with large indigenous populations, the book offers an important case study for understanding afro-indigenous interactions. Focusing on Puebla, also allows for a counterpoint for a scholarship that is often too dependent on Mexico City to speak for an en entire viceroyalty (New Spain). Ultimately, the book is able to demonstrate how enslaved people and their families created social networks that did not end, but did weaken slaveholder power significantly by 1700.

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