Paper short abstract:

This paper will focus on the phenomenon of slavery in 17th century Manila, concerning not only the volume and routes of the slave trade, but also the incorporation of slaves into urban life and social networks.

Paper long abstract:

The study of Early Modern Manila and its crucial role in the development of sustained global interactions has gathered sustantial scholarly attention over the last two decades. Today we have a much clearer picture of the movement of goods through the Manila Galleon, in particular regarding the exchange of American silver for Chinese silk and other Asian commodities. However, the full implications of this global trade at a local and urban level are still to be determined.

In this paper I would like to focus on a relatively neglected aspect of Manila's history: the phenomenon of urban slavery during the 17th century. Despite the prohibition of enslaving the native population of Luzon, slavery was pervasive in Manila. According to a report written in 1621 by the archbishop Miguel García Serrano, there were almost 2,000 slaves within Manila's Intramuros, out of a total population of 6,110. Brought by Portuguese traders from all over the Indian Ocean, captured during wars with the Muslim sultanates of the Southern Philippines or transported from New Spain, slaves were an integral part of Manila's urban landscape.

Any account of slavery implies more than determining its volume, ethnic origin or routes of arrival; it involves, more than anything, understanding how slaves related to the wider society. Through a close reading of the extant sources, I will try to show their integration into households, economic networks and city life, thereby contributing to a fuller and more complex analysis of Manila's social composition.