Slavery, Sanctuary, and Sovereignty in the Early Modern Caribbean

This talk traces the development of the so-called Spanish sanctuary, a series of royal decrees offering freedom to slaves who escaped from the colonies of rival European empires. Three intertwined factors spurred the Spanish Crown: the migrations of enslaved individuals who crossed Caribbean waters and landscapes in search of freedom; disagreement among Spanish colonial denizens about what to do with the refugees; and the Crown’s efforts to exert control over relatively marginal or contested parts of its domains.

Linda Rupert, University of North Carlina-Greensboro, InterAmericas Fellow