The historical piece that I chose is called Porto Rico [San Juan]. This piece is part of the N. Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical Prints in the New York Public Library Digital Collections. This still image was issued in 1671 and touches on some historical topics involving the Spanish colonization of San Juan, and the slave trade to Puerto Rico. When discussing the conquest of what was the island of San Juan, the probanza of Juan Gonzalez symbolized Spain as an advanced and developed strength who raided the island [1]. The people who had inhabited this island of San Juan were represented as nothing more than savages or Fierce Indians[2].
In 1506, the governor of Hispaniola chose Juan Gonzalez to escort Juan Ponce on the first large scale search of the island simply because he was able to communicate with the people who were already inhabiting the island[3]. In the mid 1500’s an abusive and unethical law was passed and was called El repartimiento. The repartimiento was a labor system that was forced on the indigenous people of what was Spanish America. The text of the Repartimiento gives an insight of the unfortunate situation that the Indian peoples of the island had to face in Spanish colonial society[4]. King Ferdinand’s commandments allowed other Indians who were bought from other islands to be used as slaves. As seen in the picture, we can see how many people including slaves and women were being sent or transported to Puerto Rico. They were transferring the slaves from Hispaniola to the island at the time which can be depicted in the drawing. As a negative effect of the repartimiento, many of the original Spanish settlers began to leave the settlements since they were not being given Indians. They also wanted to leave in search for gold in other islands [5]. At this time, many people including early Spanish settlers, were all moving to Puerto Rico to create a life there. This can be seen in the image because of the vast amounts of boats that are docked in the shore. This was the era of the slave trade and although the knowledge is limited, this was nearly the introduction of the slave traffic to the outskirts of America, such as the colony of Puerto Rico.
Slavery in Puerto Rico, like most places was majority circled around the manufacturing of different agricultural products. Due to the large need of a workforce in order to be able to increase capital, more slaves had to be bought and shipped to these peripheral sites. As seen in the still life image, San Juan was majority acres of open land. Puerto Rico was seen as a thriving agricultural site with much to offer. This importantly included the production of sugar because gold mining was declining in the island, so instead, the Spanish crown put more of a focus on the production of agriculture in the island. Considering that it is a tropical island, this meant that farming traditions and conditions were great since there was always such a hot climate and huge variety of life living there. During the mid-16th century, this production of sugar immensely escalated which lead to the high demand of laborers[6]. This image was portraying that message, that all laborers and farmers began to be sent over to this island due to the high demand of agricultural productivity and for the construction of brand-new sugar mills.
[1] De La Luz-Rodríguez, Gabriel. 2017. “Ethnological Hermeneutics for an Early Colonial Encounter on the Island of San Juan: The 1532 Probanza of Juan González.” Ethnohistory 64 (2): 217–39. doi:10.1215/00141801-3789129.
[2] De La Luz-Rodríguez, Gabriel. 2017. “Ethnological Hermeneutics for an Early Colonial Encounter on the Island of San Juan: The 1532 Probanza of Juan González.” Ethnohistory 64 (2): 217–39. doi:10.1215/00141801-3789129.
[3] De La Luz-Rodríguez, Gabriel. 2017. “Ethnological Hermeneutics for an Early Colonial Encounter on the Island of San Juan: The 1532 Probanza of Juan González.” Ethnohistory 64 (2): 217–39. doi:10.1215/00141801-3789129.
[4] Anderson-Córdova, Karen Frances. 2017. Surviving Spanish Conquest : Indian Fight, Flight, and Cultural Transformation in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Caribbean Archaeology and Ethnohistory. University of Alabama Press. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat00991a&AN=sth.ocn979230312&site=eds-live.
[5] Anderson-Córdova, Karen Frances. 2017. Surviving Spanish Conquest : Indian Fight, Flight, and Cultural Transformation in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Caribbean Archaeology and Ethnohistory. University of Alabama Press. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat00991a&AN=sth.ocn979230312&site=eds-live.
[6] Stark, David M. 2009. “A New Look at the African Slave Trade in Puerto Rico Through the Use of Parish Registers: 1660-1815.” Slavery & Abolition 30 (4): 491–520. doi:10.1080/01440390903245083.