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Paper short abstract:

We will study shipwrecks with slaves in their cargoin order to understand what happened to these people, how the loss of their lives was valued in official counts, if they could become free people when they escaped alive, and other issues related to the topic.

Paper long abstract:

Trade in the vast Spanish Empire of the Renaissance involved the constant voyage of ships between distant ports of America, Asia and Europe. The trips were generally dangerous, especially some routes, not only because of the storms and winds, but also due to the pirates. In this paper, we will study the wreck of ships that contained slaves in their cargo, to analyze what happened to these people and how the loss of their lives was valued in official counts, but also if they could become free people when they escaped alive. The historical sources come mainly from the Archivo de Indias (Seville), but also from other Spanish archives, such as the Archivo of the Crown of Aragon, or the National Historical Archive (Madrid). This paper corresponds to an incipient line of research on slave ships, within the framework of an I+D research project on slavery in the history of Spain. Among the documents studied, there are references, for example, to 8 black slaves that finally reached the mainland, coming from a slave ship, which was captured on the coast of Peru by the pirates (1694). I also found a shipwreck on the Spanish coast of Valencia in 1637, among whose cargo there were also slaves. We also know that frauds were made in the reporting of shipwrecks, as was the case in Mexico (1591), when Dr. Hernando de Saavedra was sent to inquire about the fraud with the slaves.