Well written history
Resendez’s books is look at the slavery of Indigenous populations in North and South America during the period of colonialization. Most of the book is concerned with such slavery in Mexico and the areas of North America that originally were Spanish before being taken by the US, so the south-Western U.S. He chronicles such slavery both under Spanish and American governance.
The system of slavery that is described is actually more than one system, and what is interesting, at times, is how the Spanish royals responded to the enslavement of Indigenous people to why some people went West, which had little to do with gold and land.
The story starts with the arrival of Columbus. Resendez then moves to Mexico and the United States. Included is a comparison between slavery as practiced by the indigenous population versus as adapted by the colonizers versus that used to enslave Africans. In some places, the Indigenous population had more recourse while in others they were simply a form of (cheap) slave labor. What is also interesting is the connection that is made to the use of debt to construct a legal form of slavery.
The history is made more personal by the use of example of families or individuals as well as a look at how various tribes and nations responded. The existence of slavery in the Americas is linked both to the treatment of the Indigenous population but also to the history of how the West was developed.
The system of slavery that is described is actually more than one system, and what is interesting, at times, is how the Spanish royals responded to the enslavement of Indigenous people to why some people went West, which had little to do with gold and land.
The story starts with the arrival of Columbus. Resendez then moves to Mexico and the United States. Included is a comparison between slavery as practiced by the indigenous population versus as adapted by the colonizers versus that used to enslave Africans. In some places, the Indigenous population had more recourse while in others they were simply a form of (cheap) slave labor. What is also interesting is the connection that is made to the use of debt to construct a legal form of slavery.
The history is made more personal by the use of example of families or individuals as well as a look at how various tribes and nations responded. The existence of slavery in the Americas is linked both to the treatment of the Indigenous population but also to the history of how the West was developed.
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