History of Spanish slavery in the Philippines

Slavery was widespread in the Philippine islands under the pre-colonial alipin system, before the islands were colonized by the Spanish Empire in 1565. The New Laws of the Spanish Crown which banned the slavery of native subjects in the Americas extended to the Philippines when it came under Spanish rule. However, the implementation of these policies were difficult in the early colonial period because it risked straining relations with the native population and it was opposed by Spanish encomenderos. As a result, the indigenous alipin system persisted for around a century after Spanish conquest before finally being abolished.[1]

From the late 16th century to the early 17th century, Spanish soldiers, officials, and settlers often acquired slaves through the native system as a way to skirt around the New Laws. Many of these slaves were taken back to Nueva España (where they were called chinos) and Spain as personal servants or slaves of the Spanish crew and passengers of the Manila Galleons. In addition, many native Filipinos were also pressed into service as sailors for the galleons, often under harsh conditions. These practices and the indigenous alipin system were eventually stopped by the mid-1600s, after additional royal decrees which mandated harsh punishments for violations of the Laws of the Indies, as well as heavy taxes levied on personal servants brought aboard galleons. However, the native alipin system survived in remote regions not fully under Spanish control, like in the highlands of the Cordilleras and in Mindanao.[1][2][3]

Slavery of people who were not under Spanish jurisdiction, however, was not banned. Slaves purchased from other slave markets in Southeast Asia passed through Manila and onward to Mexico in the Manila Galleons. Native captives of Spain from the Spanish–Moro conflict were also enslaved in this way.[1][3][4][5][6] Conversely, Filipinos who were subjects of Spain were often enslaved by Moro pirates and raiders. They were either integrated as slaves into the Moro Sultanates, ransomed to relatives, or sold further on to the Dutch East Indies (via the Sultanate of Gowa) and the Chinese.[7][8]

References
  1. Seijas, Tatiana (2014). Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians cover. Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 9781107477841.
  2. Carrillo, Rubén. "Asia llega a América. Migración e influencia cultural asiática en Nueva España (1565-1815)". raco.cat. Asiadémica. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  3. Guzmán-Rivas, Pablo (1960). "Geographic Influences of the Galleon Trade on New Spain". Revista Geográfica. 27 (53): 5–81. ISSN 0031-0581. JSTOR 41888470.
  4. Bethell, Leslie, ed. (1984). The Cambridge History of Latin America. Vol. 2 of The Cambridge History of Latin America: Colonial Latin America. I-II (illustrated, reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 21. ISBN 0521245168.
  5. López-Calvo, Ignacio (2013). The Affinity of the Eye: Writing Nikkei in Peru. Fernando Iwasaki. University of Arizona Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0816599875.
  6. Hoerder, Dirk (2002). Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium. Andrew Gordon, Alexander Keyssar, Daniel James. Duke University Press. p. 200. ISBN 0822384078.
  7. James Francis Warren (2002). Iranun and Balangingi: Globalization, Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity. NUS Press. pp. 53–56. ISBN 9789971692421. Archived from the original on 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
  8. Domingo M. Non (1993). "Moro Piracy during the Spanish Period and its Impact" (PDF). Southeast Asian Studies. 30 (4): 401–419. doi:10.20495/tak.30.4_401. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-04. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
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