Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

4th c. 5th c. 6th c. 7th c. 8th c. 9th c. 10th c. 11th c. 12th c. 13th c. 14th c. 15th c. 16th c. 17th c. 18th c. 19th c. 20th c. 21st c.
Negros y Esclavos archives
Inscribed 2005
What is it
A collection of original documents detailing the
development of the slave trade in the city of Cartagena
in the Spanish colony of New Granada (now Colombia).
Why was it inscribed
These unique archives provide evidence of all aspects
of slavery in the New World: the maltreatment of slaves,
their sale and marketing, their role in daily domestic
work, their work in the mines and on the large estates,
their protests, and, finally, their rebellion.
Where is it
Archivo General de la Nación, Bogota, Colombia
� Illustration of an African forced into slavery, from ‘The Negro’s Complaint’, an 1826 poem.
The archive contains extensive and very wide-ranging
records of the development of the African slave trade in
the New Granada territory (the country now known as
the Republic of Colombia). The collection is composed
of fifty-five files, equivalent to approximately 55,000 sheets
of paper, which refer not only to the history of Colombia,
but also that of Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.
New slaves were sent to the different Spanish colonies
in South America from the port of Cartagena, which
therefore documented information about slaves
and their treatment. Regrettably, most documents
produced in Cartagena during that period – the 16th
to 18th centuries – have disappeared. This archive is one
of only two in the world that preserve information on
the slave trade in this area.
The trade began from the start of European occupation
of American territory. The trade and sale of slaves were
Negros y Esclavos archives 169