Spanish Conquest of Mexico -- Book Report

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60). Why did the Spaniards bring so many slaves into Mexico? Because many of the native Indians had suffered and died from many diseases brought over by the Spaniards (the Indians did not have resistance to those new diseases), there was a need for cheap labor, and the Black slaves served that purpose.

The slaves were sold in many areas of Mexico, but the author explains that the four main areas where slaves were shipped included: Mexico City (more than half of the slaves that arrived in Mexico were brought to Mexico City); Tlaxcala-Puebla; Michoacan; and Zacatecas (p. 60). The Spanish Crown realized that the Catholic Church's missionaries found slavery to be repugnant, and so the Crown seemed to go along with the Church. However, in what could only be termed deception and skullduggery, the Crown needed the money that slavery brought to the royal family, so the Crown subcontracted with Portuguese and British businesses to bring slaves into Mexico notwithstanding their agreement with the Church to end this inhumane practice.

What rights did slaves in Mexico have? The "Siete Partidas" law code gave slaves the right to "…select their spouse" and those who owned slaves could not interfere with this process.
The Catholic Church advocated for the Black slaves. The Church influenced the laws pertaining to Black slaves in Mexico; children born from Black slaves and Indian women were free from being slaves and could live with their mothers.

Racial order in Mexico: The "casta" system set up racial hierarchies in Mexico: a) the highest level of course were Spaniards of European descent ("peninsulares" were Spaniards born in Spain; "Criollos" were Spaniards born in Mexico; Peninsulares got the highest positions); b) "Mestizos" (children of mixed Spanish-Indian blood) were next in line on the pecking order and were denied privileges and did not get land in the same volume as Indians did; c) native Indians "…were forced to live in a perpetual state of tutelage controlled by the Church, state, or Spanish landowners" (p. 63); and d) "afromestizos" (part African, part Indian) were "…stigmatized and considered socially inferior to Indians and mestizos" (p. 64). The afromestizos….....

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/spanish-conquest-mexico-12062