The First Enslaved Africans in America
From Florida to Virginia
The first Black people brought to America by Europeans were slaves and at least one free man on ships, part of Ponce de Leon's expedition in 1513. The free man, Juan Garrido, was a former slave who'd received his freedom while in Spain. Garrido became a Spanish conquistador and later introduced wheat to the New World in Mexico after helping Hernan Cortez conquer the Aztecs. Garrido was the exception to the rule; part of Ponce de Leon's mission was to capture and trade enslaved people, as Spain had become dependent on slaves in the New World for mining and agriculture.
Ponce de Leon pioneered the transatlantic slave trade removing Taino people from the Caribbean Islands to Spain. This became the framework for the transatlantic trade of Africans, which led to millions of Africans being sent to North America, South America, and the West Indies. There's a whole other story about the Spanish introduction of European diseases to the indigenous people of two continents and the harsh treatment of the natives enslaved. Bernal Diaz del Castillo's book, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, describes much of what happened in Central America.
Back to America, Ponce de Leon was known for his harshness toward the enslaved Black people he brought with him and the Native Americans he was able…
