On the second day of Christmas in 1521, in one of the earliest sugar factories established in the New World, a group of black slaves rebelled against their masters in the first African slave uprising in the United States. This is a very unknown fact 500 years later. There are consequences.
This is an event, there is Apart from what is currently happening in the Dominican Republic, there is little certaintyIn the sugar exploitation of Governor Diego Colon, the son of Christopher Columbus, this led to the first slave law on the continent.
Anthropologist Professor Carlos Andújar (Carlos Andújar) explained to Effie during a witty exploratory process that the date of the event has recently been corrected. It has been 1522 for centuries, but the experts are right. The location of its occurrence is also divided.
Some people argue that this is in Boca de Nigua, 25 kilometers southwest of Santo DomingoOthers say that the uprising was carried out in the first institutions established by the Colon family in the area near the Isabella River near Santo Domingo.
In any case, a rather violent event must have occurred on December 26, 1521, “The idea is to eliminate the Spaniards”, According to Andujar.
The Grove rebels “seek to reproduce as a movement” and “conquer other factories and attack their owners’ houses.”
America’s first Africans
The first blacks arrived on Hispaniola in 1501. Today it is a territory shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, when Governor Nicolás de Ovando asked his entourage to bring them. Family slave.
They arrived as early as 1520 More than 2,000 slaves assigned to work on the landAccording to historians, there are between 150 and 400 people on each farm.
“This is the first time dealing with slaves outside Europe”, so it was decided to bring the black Ladino here.
They use “excuses Problems with gold production And, if it is replaced by sugar cane, then “the labor force that was basically indigenous until now must be replaced by African slaves that have been known to produce.”
more importantly, Isabel la Católica issued a royal rule in 1500 prohibiting the enslavement of locals, Considering that they are subjects of the royal family, this necessitates an alternative to planting sugarcane.
One year after arriving in Santo Domingo, the slaves quickly resisted, “not only because of corporal punishment, but also because of deprivation of cultural space, forced labor, or lack of food.”
Even so, the slaves were given “a certain amount of freedom: music, religion”, but after the events of December 26, they were forbidden to form in groups, which was the only way in which the budding rebellion could emerge.
Law and punishment
Only 12 days after the uprising, on January 6, 1522, a slavery law was enacted to prevent future rebellions, while tracking the hills where they fled.
When they were captured, They were punishedJust like amputation or hand amputation, they were “muzzled so that they could not communicate with each other, and some people were eventually hanged.”
At that time, there was a huge dependence on African labor, with a population of three to one, and the demand for sugar continued to grow.
For this reason, there are a number of agreements that enact “agreements with slaves”, one of which includes that if the fugitive returns within ten days, he will not be punished.
Later rebellion
The first rebellion created the “liberal consciousness of the African group”, which was a precursor to the riots between 1530 and 1540. “The period when the demand for sugar was greatest was also the period when the colonial sugar industry gained the greatest strength.”
After the events of 1521, the Spaniards began to bring black bozales to the mill instead of ladinos, hoping they would be more obedient, but “They failed because the movement continues.”
“Black people are not used to colonization here. Although they are subdued by Spanish military forces, they have proposed a permanent rebellion,” Andujar said.
The largest slave rebellion in the colonial history of Santo Domingo occurred in a mill in Boca de Nigua in 1796. The remains of the mill still exist, and slavery was abolished in 1822.