De las "malas entradas" y las estrategias del "buen pasaje": El contrabando de esclavos en el Caribe neogranadino, 1550-1690

Abstract

Contraband was an important component of the system of economic monopolies that Spain maintained with the Indies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this illegal trade, the traffic of human beings followed the same pattern as that of merchandise. The illegal slave trade in the Caribbean region of New Granada had two main characteristics. First, the illegal trade of captives carried out by pirates, corsairs and foreigners. Second, the fiscal fraud conducted by Portugese merchants who brought more slaves than permitted by their contracts. This type of illegal trade benefited from the complacency of provincial authorities and royal officials who profited enormously from the bribes.