Paul Lokken _ Useful Enemies_ Seventeenth-Century Piracy and the Rise of Pardo Militias in Spanish Central America _ Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 5_2

Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and...http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.emory.edu/journals/journal_of... Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and the Rise of Pardo Militias in Spanish Central America Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 5:2 | © 2004 Paul Lokken Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and the Rise of Pardo Militias in Spanish Central America Paul Lokken 1 of 22 1. The seventeenth century was a pivotal moment in the history of enslaved African migrants and their descendants in those areas of colonial Spanish America characterized by the presence of dense indigenous populations. The initial decades of the century saw slave imports from Africa into imperial Spain's key Mesoamerican and central Andean realms reach their all-time peak. They then fell off precipitously after 1640 owing to a gradual reversal in the disastrous, century-long decline of local native populations, the steady expansion of an alternative labor pool made up of free people of plural origins, and the empire's geopolitical and economic setbacks.1 These same developments produced circumstances under which many descendants of earlier African migrants found themselves able, to an unusual extent, to reshape their social identity to their own benefit. Most important in the creation of these circumstances was the fact that imperial officials, alarmed by repeated assaults on Spain's various American possessions by freebooters linked to rival European powers and reluctant to supplement the ranks of local Spanish defenders by arming indigenous majorities, turned increasingly for military support in places like New Spain, Peru, and the Central American Audiencia of Guatemala to a small but growing free minority of African origins.2 2. When the seventeenth century opened, the defense of Spanish America, outside of a few key ports, was based, at least officially, either on forces made up of encomenderos--Spanish holders of grants of labor and tribute from indigenous communities whose duties 3/24/14, 4:33 PM Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and... http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.emory.edu/journals/journal_of... included the maintenance of a horse and set of arms--or, increasingly, on local militias drawn from the Spanish population as a whole.3 Although people of African origins, both free and enslaved, had played an auxiliary role in such forces ever since the Spanish invasions, persons defined as black, mulatto, or in any other way by African origins were formally excluded from militia membership. In fact, as late as 1663 they were technically forbidden to carry weapons at all.4 Already by that date, however, regular militia units of gente parda5 had begun to form a major bulwark of coastal defense in much of Spanish America, and some were seizing upon the opportunities made available as a result of their military usefulness to secure relief from an alternative tribute known as the laborío, owed to the Crown by free people of African origins since the 1570s. Black and mulatto participants in the 1624 defense of Lima against Dutch enemies won at least a temporary exemption from the tribute as early as 1631, and similar relief was soon being demanded, and eventually granted, in both New Spain and the Audiencia of Guatemala. These tribute exemptions were among the most important of the "political rewards" that Kris Lane has called the "principal fringe benefit" accruing to "low-born individuals" in Spain's American realms during the course of the empire's long war against piracy.6 3. 2 of 22 The process by which colonial subjects of African origins came to participate formally in organized militias in the Audiencia of Guatemala during the seventeenth century has received little attention.7 Indeed, the experience in general of Africans and their descendants in colonial Central America has languished in the more obscure corners of both scholarly and popular historical consciousness until quite recently.8 While this article does not directly address this more general experience at any length, the aspect of that experience on which it focuses--the rise of pardo militias--was crucial in shaping the subsequent history of people of African descent in the isthmus. Examining the origins and development of the strange alliance that made Spain's enemies accomplices to the renegotiation of social boundaries by colonial Central Americans of African 3/24/14, 4:33 PM " As a consequence.. that within two years of arrival in the Indies "no Spaniard is capable of marching two leagues with an harquebus on his shoulders. Lorenzana claimed that people of African origins outnumbered Spaniards in the colonies by more than ten to one." he warned. Proceeding in this vein of pre-Enlightenment "racial" speculation. Sometime around 1650. "It would be more difficult to quell any disturbance begun by the blacks and mulattos.library." "Good infantrymen and better cavalrymen.9 Origins of a Strange Alliance 3 of 22 4. respectively. the imperial homeland's overseas progeny experienced quite the opposite phenomenon: degeneration. lamentably.. militarily ineffectual Spanish colonists earned nothing but contempt from "valiant" fighters of African origins. a resident of Santiago de Guatemala.jhu. he added..proxy."10 5. of Spanish men of "hot and moist" and black women of "cold and dry" constitutions. 4:33 PM ." these titans of mixed origins were "made for the bush and countryside. emerged from the womb strong enough to "take on a bull. What. the nature of the problem that people of African origins posed in Spain's American realms was stark. "than it was to conquer those kingdoms" in the first place. He claimed to know from experience.edu. wrote a letter to the Spanish Crown warning that an expanding population of "blacks and mulattos" posed an imminent threat to Spain's rule in the Indies..emory. for example. Captain Cristóbal de Lorenzana. origins is indispensable to the scholarly reassessment currently underway of Central America's place in the history of the African diaspora. he suggested that mulattos.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. that "in the kingdoms of the Indies all Spaniards enjoy the privileges of nobility. even more troubling. According to Lorenzana.edu/journals/journal_of." free blacks and mulattos there should be made equivalent in 3/24/14. capital of Spanish Central America and now the Guatemalan town of Antigua.11 It was too late. and. to address the problem by banning further imports of slaves. http://muse. as the children. was to be done? Given. Lorenzana said. as the number of Africans and their descendants already residing in the Americas was more than sufficient to represent a grave danger. thrived in American climes in which. then. owing in part to the apparent confirmation of 3/24/14. Such contradictions only grew more acute as awareness of the weaknesses in Spanish defenses intensified. that the participation of fourteen "mulattos and blacks. they should be admitted into fully integrated militia units "without their color bringing scorn upon them. and Peru. This proposal is perhaps remarkable not so much for its apparent audacity in the face of a colonial legal system that generally sought to distinguish rigorously between Spaniards and presumably inferior peoples of non-European origins.14 8."12 4 of 22 6. legal status to the pecheros..13 7. the military potential of the latter had long been both feared and exploited. freedmen as well as slaves" in driving off the French marauders who burned the key Honduran port of Puerto de Caballos in 1595 was unprecedented.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. which began as early as the 1540s.edu/journals/journal_of.proxy. 4:33 PM . had served as valued auxiliaries in the subjugation and subsequent repression of the vast indigenous populations of New Spain. and crucially. Guatemala. It is not known precisely when fighters of African origins were first employed as defenders of the Central American coastline against foreign attacks. in spite of frequent prohibitions targeting the practice by authorities concerned about the possibility of slave rebellions. http://muse. for example. were frequently armed by well-off masters for reasons of both status and personal protection.jhu. Whatever Spaniards' notions in theory concerning the inferiority of Africans and their descendants.library.edu.... however. There is little reason to suppose. Furthermore. This ambivalence in Spanish attitudes about and behavior toward people of African descent had existed ever since Africans. but rather because the distance between the measures it called for and what was already beginning to emerge as ordinary colonial practice in places like Central America was not all that great. ironic in light of the Crown's regular proscriptions against placing weapons in the hands of such individuals. slaves or not. Slaves of African origins.emory. of Castile. The identities of those defenders was recorded merely because they received a monetary reward for their efforts. or commoners. When Dutch corsairs sailed into Amatique Bay in 1607 and attacked a recently constructed and supposedly more defensible port at Santo Tomás de Castilla. or city council.library..edu/journals/journal_of. Challenged by the persistent inadequacy of Caribbean defenses. 4:33 PM . when the residents of the capital were witness to ongoing feuding in the streets between armed and apparently fearless gangs of slaves from two rival households.16 10. The Crown. a body beholden in substantial measure to the very same encomenderos who wished to avoid bearing the costs of defense themselves. the encomenderos sent to its aid complained bitterly about the expenses they were forced to incur. a protest was launched almost immediately by Santiago's cabildo.proxy. in response. during the initial years of the seventeenth century royal investigators had attributed a wave of illicit cattle slaughter along the Pacific coast of present-day Guatemala mostly to the black and mulatto vaqueros. http://muse.emory. As was usual in such cases. which was only 3/24/14.. Not surprisingly. The cabildo's apparent hypocrisy is easier to understand when the specific circumstances under which its members received this clearly unpalatable news are considered..17 At the same time. in the modern Guatemalan department of Retalhuleu. peninsular prejudice concerning the military reliability of American-born Spaniards. First of all.15 5 of 22 9. an indication no doubt of their growing unwillingness to shoulder the military burdens traditionally assigned to them.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. Whatever the new port's natural advantages over the more exposed Honduran outlets at Puerto de Caballos and Trujillo. both free and enslaved. there was rising concern over the activities of a community of escaped slaves that had established itself around 1603 in a remote Pacific coast area of Zapotitlán. A second set of disturbing circumstances arose in 1609. it would clearly be no more effective if not properly garrisoned. went so far as to issue a decree in 1605 that explicitly barred persons of African origins from riding horses at all.. who were said to respect no Spaniards other than their powerful masters.jhu. royal officials in Santiago moved to authorize the arming of black and mulatto residents in coastal areas in 1612.edu. who dominated the local ranching population. the decree had little real impact. for example.. confirming the worst fears of the local Spanish population. aborted slave conspiracy in Mexico City reached Guatemala in the spring of 1612.library.18 Finally.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. After enemy ships were sighted in the Gulf of Fonseca in 1615.proxy. 12.20 Clearly. just three years after it had asked for an allotment of two thousand. news of a major.. and one hundred and fifty "blacks. the local Spanish population was suddenly terrified of people whose labor its members had previously coveted. was no doubt viewed as irrelevant to their calculations.21 No similar development appears to have taken place in Central America until the 1640s.emory.. In light of these troublesome developments the steady expansion in the numbers of people of African origins in Guatemala began to raise such alarm in Santiago that the cabildo decided to request an immediate halt to further importation of slaves. Captain Lucas García Serrano of the Salvadoran city of San Miguel claimed to have led a force of some thirty Spaniards. slaves as well as freedmen. three hundred Indian bowmen. and mestizos" to defend the Pacific port of Amapala. 4:33 PM . though. but people of African origins there continued occasionally to participate on an ad hoc basis in military actions. finally destroyed in the fall of 1611 after the failure of at least two earlier expeditions. in that very year militia units of color were being formalized in Mexico City even as thirty-five slaves accused of conspiracy were being hanged. whose potential for allying with foreign invaders was considered to be particularly worrisome. meanwhile. http://muse. could not override the imperatives of imperial defense for long.edu.19 6 of 22 11. five sword-bearing slaves served among fifty-six men who were hastily dispatched from Santiago and the eastern Guatemalan districts of Chiquimula and Acasaguastlán to the Golfo Dulce in response to a report 3/24/14. had proven themselves loyal against not only northern European interlopers but also maroons of African descent.22 In April 1618.jhu. The fact that some individuals of African origins.edu/journals/journal_of. Indeed.. Similar settlements still existed in the vicinity of the Golfo Dulce (now Lake Izabal). mulattos. a key trading outlet to the Caribbean. The fears that came to a head in 1612. with one consequence being the loss of control 3/24/14.. long determined to win formal recognition for an independence they had enjoyed in all but name since the late sixteenth century. Marquis of Lorenzana and President of the Audiencia from 1634 to 1642. in 1633. When the marquis expressed his concern about the shortage of weaponry available to the Spanish residents of the Audiencia in a 1638 letter to the Crown. he focused attention not on any foreign threat but rather on the internal danger posed in the first place by the indigenous majority and in the second by the "great number of skilled blacks and mulattos [who were] discontented with their status. for example. Spain was entering a prolonged period of crisis and war in Europe itself."25 14. Hostile activity by Spain's European rivals along the coasts of Central America seems to have dropped off sharply during the 1620s. None achieved lasting success. several ships belonging to the Dutch West India Company briefly assaulted and occupied Trujillo. in fact. eventually contributed to military disaster.24 The persistent maroon threat does not seem to have prompted any consideration of militia expansion. 4:33 PM .26 Then. The maroon bands that continued to operate from uplands near the Golfo Dulce emerged instead as the most important defense concern for Audiencia officials between roughly 1617 and 1632. however. when English colonists attempted a settlement on the island of Providence off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua.edu. Signs that a new and perhaps more serious bout of conflict with foreign invaders lay ahead for the Audiencia were appearing already in 1631.jhu. however. At least three expeditions were sent out during that fifteen-year period to eliminate the danger posed by escaped slaves and secure the trade route to the Gulf. http://muse.edu/journals/journal_of.. Its renewed efforts to subdue the rebellious and powerful Dutch provinces.library. it may have ensured that any notion of formally arming non-Spaniards remained anathema to officials like don Alvaro de Quiñones y Osorio.27 At the same time.23 7 of 22 13. and established relations shortly thereafter with indigenous groups on the mainland who had long resisted Spanish control...Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and.emory. Circumstances soon changed.proxy. that several alien vessels were cruising in its waters. blacks. French.31 17.28 15. soon had few other choices. south along the Pacific coast.proxy. after enemy attackers seized goods awaiting transit there and left several people dead. blacks and free mulattos" in the entire Audiencia.edu. the Marquis of Lorenzana himself was forced to set off from Santiago with some 400 men in the direction of the Golfo Dulce. including a friar.. It is not clear if the President.library. This order came in direct response to a series of devastating attacks that had occurred in the region of the Caribbean coast lying between Trujillo and the Golfo Dulce during the previous few months. and Dutch privateers were involved in the attacks suffered on Avendaño's watch. In May 1640.30 Further depredations along the same area of the coast the following year prompted the new President to request a survey for purposes of militia enlistment of "all the Spaniards. troops were to be dispatched as soon as possible to the troubled region from the Honduran districts of Comayagua and Tegucigalpa.29 The Emergence of Formal Pardo Militias in Central America 8 of 22 16.jhu. On assuming the presidency of the Audiencia of Guatemala early in 1642. however. Chiquimula. The most notorious of the 3/24/14. and Verapaz.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. whose entourage apparently made it no farther in any case than a village a few miles northeast of the capital. was forced to raise troops in this instance from among the non-Spaniards he had earlier reported to be so threatening. http://muse. Meanwhile. the Guatemalan districts that lay closest to the Golfo Dulce. and mestizos" living in the various districts that lay between the capital and the Honduran port of Trujillo. His successor. 4:33 PM .edu/journals/journal_of. don Diego de Avendaño almost immediately ordered that lists be drawn up of "all the Spanish people. An assortment of English... It was in this context that foreign attacks on the Caribbean coast of Spanish Central America picked up again with a vengeance. over Portugal in 1640 after sixty years of Madrid's rule there. mulattos. and from the more densely populated territory of San Salvador and San Miguel.. from Acasaguastlán. mestizos.emory. Avendaño dispatched two militia units from the capital to the coast. Dieguillo and his European counterparts continued to launch periodic assaults on Trujillo. Audiencia's seaborne enemies during this period.32 It was English marauders."34 Few other similarly specific references to the existence of such companies during the 1640s have come to light. back to Europe in 1637.edu. In July of 1643 more than a thousand of them arrived at Trujillo in sixteen ships and thoroughly pillaged the long-suffering community.. they expanded the geographical range of their 3/24/14.33 In the face of these assaults. and if anything. and Audiencia officials undertook to arm non-Spaniards in large numbers." ex-slave of a Spaniard who had escaped from Havana in 1629.. was "Dieguillo el Mulato. lest they provide assistance to the Audiencia's enemies. but it is reasonable to assume on the basis of the calls for enlistment that they were not only created.library. and established himself as a leading scourge of Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.35 Spain's enemies were not deterred. and trading posts in the Golfo Dulce from bases established on the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras.emory. the infamous English traveler and ex-Dominican friar. he was cruising into the Golfo Dulce seemingly at will in search of plunder. allied with the Dutch. however. despite the removal by Spanish forces of a short-lived English colony from the island of Roatán in 1642 and several subsequent efforts to relocate the indigenous inhabitants of that island and Guanaja to the mainland. He briefly seized the vessel carrying Thomas Gage. Santo Tomás de Castilla. 4:33 PM . as the enemy attacks that made them vital persisted throughout the decade..proxy. but remained active.. though. 18. who provided the most spectacular example of wanton destruction of a Central American port at this time. "one of mulattos and the other of cavalrymen and in total around five hundred men. 9 of 22 A clear reference to a militia unit of color formally constituted as such appears in a 1644 document produced in Santiago. By the early 1640s. http://muse. in league now with the French privateer "Juan Garab�" (or Jean Gareabuc).edu/journals/journal_of. need quickly overwhelmed fear.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and.jhu. When enemy ships were (mistakenly) sighted off the Pacific coast of Zapotitlán on January 3 of that year. 37 Fifteen years later. were not defined by the origins of members at all. four in Nicaragua.emory. however. it should be remembered. owed the laborío tribute. with some one thousand seven hundred and fifteen members representing approximately twenty percent of total militia strength in the isthmus. "one of Spaniards and mestizos" with some one hundred and fifty members.. Six of those companies were located in the territory of modern Guatemala. This raises the possibility that segregation was not practiced very rigidly in units whose members needed to possess difficult-to-acquire skills. and both Spaniards and mestizos.36 10 of 22 19.. that distinctions were drawn wherever possible between militiamen identified by African origins. cavalry companies in the main. ranch-hands of African origins.. and by 1658 the Audiencia was proposing to incorporate free blacks and mulattos into a cavalry company in response to recent sightings of enemy ships along the Pacific coast of Guatemala.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and.jhu. two each in Honduras and El Salvador. Many of the other companies listed in the militia survey of 1673 were identified explicitly as Spanish. while the 1673 list noted the presence of just one infantry company of three hundred and thirteen men of undefined origins in the Guatemalan Pacific coast district of Guazacapán. there were no fewer than sixteen pardo companies explicitly defined as such in the Audiencia. but roughly one-third of all the units. At least two companies of color were organized in and around Cartago in Costa Rica during the early 1650s. for example. the foreign threat was already beginning to make black and mulatto militiamen crucial to the defense of Central America.library. who did not.39 The continuing relevance of Spanish efforts to sustain 3/24/14. 4:33 PM . Other evidence makes clear. "and the other two of mulattos and gente parda" with two hundred and fifty more..proxy. thus opening the ranks of some Spanish companies to.edu/journals/journal_of. activities along the coast. and one as indigenous. For example. http://muse.38 20. the administrator of that district informed the Crown a decade later that the territory held three militia companies. who.edu. By the time Cristóbal de Lorenzana wrote the proposal to the Crown (cited above). and one each in Costa Rica and the present-day Mexican state of Chiapas. 40 11 of 22 21. however.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. the seemingly relentless foreign assaults that had in large measure prompted the formalization of pardo militia units in the Audiencia in the first place was now providing the members of those units with ammunition to challenge the tribute burden that clearly marked them as inferior to their fellow militiamen.. 4:33 PM .edu. as companies elsewhere were quick to exploit it for purposes of securing their own exemptions.42 The "favoritism" shown the Nicaraguan militiamen never went unchallenged.library. The sacking of Granada by a combined force of Englishmen and Zambos-Miskitos in 1665 and again in 1670. After all.43 22.emory. members of Chiquimula's pardo cavalry unit complained that their counterparts in Granada had been granted tribute relief for "less work" than they themselves had performed in defending the Golfo Dulce from foreign attack. One might ask why Audiencia officials did not move to undercut the growing power of pardo militiamen by drawing more extensively on an alternative source of manpower. News of that exemption moved Costa Rican units to demand similar concessions in 1672... Even worse. fortuitously assisted yet again by foreign "allies" who conveniently returned to loot not only Granada. Spaniards had employed indigenous allies whenever possible 3/24/14. which the cavalrymen from Chiquimula provided at their own expense. though. http://muse. the indigenous majority. enabled the pardo militia units of Nicaragua to secure tribute relief. In a 1697 petition. and companies all over the isthmus pressed for relief over the next couple of decades. León.edu/journals/journal_of. classification on the basis of African descent as a key tool for facilitating legal and social discrimination is underscored by the fact that at least one man brought up on charges of failing to pay the tribute in Santiago "proved" he was mestizo rather than mulatto by appealing to his sixteen-year record of service in a Spanish militia unit. and several mining communities in Nueva Segovia during a new wave of assaults between 1685 and 1689.jhu.proxy. Already. the Granadans were allotted horses.. for military assistance against foreign attacks. but also Realejo. for example.41 Nicaraguan units evidently continued to lead the way in obtaining or renewing exemptions from tribute. and both are evident in Audiencia President Diego de Avendaño's flat rejection in 1644 of any notion that the 14. as might be expected under the circumstances. listed in the 1673 militia survey. slow-witted.jhu." or community leaders. of course. and military expeditions such as the one led by Lucas García Serrano to defend the Salvadoran coast in 1615 frequently included auxiliary contingents of "Indian bowmen. provides us with one indication of its unusual status.000 tributaries living around Santiago might be armed in response to the foreign threat off the coast. while the unfolding of that foreign threat over the course of the seventeenth century seems largely to have determined the timing of both the formalization of pardo militia units in Central America and the efforts of militiamen in those units to throw off their tribute burden.library. then.. however.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and.edu. The Spanish simply could not arm the indigenous peoples of Central America in large numbers because the survival of colonial society depended primarily upon their rigorous subjugation. and "incapable of reason.emory..proxy. generally goes hand in hand with fear. The designation of its members as "indios principales."44 Contempt. during their invasion of the Americas. there was even a company identified as indigenous.edu/journals/journal_of. "despite the fact that they are very domestic. http://muse.. It was precisely because not only foreigners but also the native inhabitants of the isthmus were a constant threat to the colonial order that a heretofore "dangerous" minority of African origins could be brought into militias in support of Spanish rule. 12 of 22 Thus. there were in fact still numerous pockets of 3/24/14." As noted above.. Aside from the obvious role that non-Indian militiamen could play in ensuring control over the indigenous inhabitants of the major population centers. as docile. Cristóbal de Lorenzana's praise for mulattos. must be seen in the light of his contempt for the indigenous people on whose labor the colonial order was built in much of Central America. and their members acquire a modicum of social leverage as a result of their usefulness to the authorities. 4:33 PM . and another is the fact that there were no other similar units. people whom he characterized. it was the nature and history of colonial society in the isthmus that caused Spaniards to turn to previously suspect people of African origins for military assistance in the first place."45 23. from Chiapas. especially for military purposes. 4:33 PM . Even though that social hierarchy was probably shored up in the long run by the developments examined here.edu/journals/journal_of. that the black and mulatto vaqueros of Central America were highly skilled horsemen. While it had long been clear. Indeed..proxy. worse. adding "if they are pardos and Spaniards send them with officers of their own colors. as long as Spaniards had no good reason to do so they were not about to alter the convention that officially reserved the use of horses to themselves.emory. http://muse. In the order. the likelihood of insubordinate behavior on the part of the "inferior" officer without firm instructions to the contrary. threatening key aspects of the established social hierarchy. even when all was quiet along the coast. many Spaniards at the time clearly found them disturbing...edu. for example. Escovedo told the administrator of the district of Acasaguastlán to send fifty men to the gulf as quickly as possible."47 The Audiencia President evidently imagined that there might be some confusion over who should command in the absence of such a directive.jhu. in other words. The acceptance of pardo cavalry units by the colonial regime thus reveals the extent to which the defense crises of the seventeenth century shook the boundaries of the colonial order in Central America. and bodies were needed to staff the numerous expeditions sent out against them. In raising companies of pardo militiamen in Cartago and Esparza during the 1650s and 1660s. That concern is well illustrated in an order sent out by Audiencia President Fernando Francisco de Escovedo in response to news of an enemy incursion into the Golfo Dulce in 1676. the pardo officer to obey the Spaniards even if [they are] much lesser in number. or. for example. his belief that such an order was necessary at all indicates clearly the extent to which Spanish Central America's experience with piracy in the 3/24/14. 24.library. "unpacified" indigenous peoples in the late seventeenth century.. the governors of Costa Rica gave as one justification the imperative of "reducing" the hostile native inhabitants of Talamanca. 13 of 22 None of this should suggest that Spaniards welcomed the incorporation of free people of African origins into a social realm from which they had previously been formally excluded.46 Employment could be found for militia units created in response to foreign attacks.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. William R. 2000). 2 in Historia General de Guatemala. AGCA. 1492-1650 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. and the Colonial Experience (Norman. "Volume and Structure". W. fol[io]s. A1. esp. 3d. On the decline and recovery of indigenous populations and the contentious date of 1650 or thereabouts as the low point. William and Mary Quarterly. series. Lutz. 45.23. Demografía e imperio: guía para la historia de la población de la América Central Española. 1541-1773: City. 14 of 22 3/24/14..emory. Jorge Luján Muñoz (Guatemala: Asociación de Amigos del País." in Dominación española. Pearce. fol. 114-136. Guisela Asensio Lueg (Guatemala: Editorial Universitaria. "Escuintla y Guazacapán. Eltis. trans. fol. 100. leg. leg[ajo]. A1.15751. �The Volume and Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Reassessment'. On the drastic decline of imports thereafter. Adrian J. 4:33 PM .23.200 Africans arrived in Spanish America between 1595 and 1640.. Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of.15755.50 (1670). 1977).1517. leg. 58:1 (2001). A1.23. ex[pediente]. 24. 1998). Okla. desde la Conquista hasta 1700.H. 45. 594. see Noble David Cook. Christopher H. http://muse." Latin American Research Review 36:3 (2001):69-104. Elliott. 1994). 1989). see Archivo General de Centro América (hereafter AGCA). see Enriqueta Vila Vilar.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. ed. seventeenth century opened up opportunities for social mobility via militia service to the free descendants of enslaved African migrants.. David Eltis. ex. Jr.10072. ed. Endnotes 1 On estimates that some 268. Santiago de Guatemala. "The Peruvian Population Census of 1725-1740. AGCA.2199. 10-11. 1994)� 86. 1500-1700: Selected Essays (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1500-1821. Ernesto Chinchilla Aguilar. Fowler. vol. ex..library. Hispanoamérica y el comercio de esclavos: los asientos portugueses (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos. On Spain's imperial troubles in the seventeenth century. Lutz.: University of Oklahoma Press. George Lovell and Christopher H.2197. 197-211.proxy..108-108v (1646). see J. Spain and its World.edu.97 (1664). Caste. 2:592. 16. Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico (Stanford: Stanford University Press. 4:33 PM . negros y mulatos libres en el virreinato peruano. technically part of the viceroyalty of New Spain but largely independent from Mexico City in administrative matters. Pillaging the Empire. leg. Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas. 306. Frederick P. 4 Libro 7. 29. Bearing Arms. Vinson. Leyes 1.26377 (1644). Santiago.edu/journals/journal_of.10074. The Audiencia of Guatemala.proxy. Título 5. The African Slave in Colonial Peru.emory. 518 (México. 4 vols. 2 For a recent work on the Spanish American experience of piracy. On early tribute exemptions. (Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica.: M. esclavos y libertos en la Costa Rica del siglo XVII. N. mulatos. Negros. ex. 1973). Título 5. 253-254. in Recopilación. A1. Bearing Arms. 1524-1650 (Stanford: Stanford University Press. 3 Ben Vinson III. Zambo was rarely used. 2001). see Libro 7. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia Pub." Mesoamérica 14 (1987): 512-513.: Instituto Panamericano de 15 of 22 3/24/14.E. see Vinson.108-108v (1663). D. 5 The term literally meant "brown-skinned people.23." Pardo generally appears in colonial Central American documents as a synonym for the more explicitly pejorative mulato.edu. Ronald Escobedo Mansilla. leg. Leyes 14-18. 2:285-285v. On the origins of the laborío. Lane.. Lutz. ex.. 140. Both were applied to individuals of African and indigenous as well as those of African and Spanish origins (or all three combined). No. see AGCA.Y. 6 Lane. Stephen Webre.1600. 11-12. 1500-1750 (Armonk. see Kris E. fols. 1974).1519. 3. http://muse.. Bowser.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. For examples of laborío collection in Mexico and what is now El Salvador during the seventeenth century." in Revista de Indias 41:163-164 (1981):50-52. "El tributo de los zambaigos. AGCA. A3. 2:287-287v. 1998). stretched from the modern Mexican state of Chiapas through present-day Costa Rica. "Las compañías de milicia y la defensa del istmo centroamericano en el siglo XVII: el alistamiento general de 1673. Rina Cáceres. 143-146. Sharpe.jhu. 22..library.F. in Recopilación de leyes de los Reynos de las Indias. Negros. 2004. series.html. for example. and Romero Vargas. "Las milicias. ocasionadas por los negros y mulatos que ay en ellas. 8 Among the most significant works to have addressed this inattention to date are Lutz.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. Cáceres. Paul Lokken. 2000).." SECOLAS Annals 31 (1999): 30-32.tulane. but no less determinist in its assumptions. "La población de origen africano en Nicaragua. 98-105.edu/~jwolfe/rp/index." Caravelle 49 (1987): 93-104. Leyva." 9 See. Luz María Martínez Montiel (México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.edu/journals/journal_of. ed. Centro de Estudios Históricos y Sociales para el Desarrollo de Honduras.proxy.edu. the website for the international conference "Between Race and Place: Blacks and Blackness in Central America and the Mainland Caribbean. Lorenzana's view of "mixed" origins was directly contrary to the one that emerged later with the rise of post-Enlightenment scientific racism in the nineteenth century. Negros." esp. 513. transcribed in Héctor M. 151-198. http://muse. 7 Crucial exceptions include Webre. Cáceres." in Presencia africana en Centroamérica. 54:1 (1997): 143-166.1650?). 1991).. For a provocative take on the significance of Iberian thinking about human difference. 165-169. 16 of 22 3/24/14. at http://www. Romero Vargas. 115. (s.a. esp." Tulane University.. 518. Geografía e Historia. esp.137-142. A useful article that focuses on the period of militia reorganization in the mid-eighteenth century is Salvador Montoya. 4:33 PM . "The Iberian Roots of American Racist Thought. dio a Su Majestad para reparo de las turbaciones que los rreynos de las yndias pueden tener en lo benidero.. Sweet. fol." Biblioteca Nacional de España: mss/3047. Documentos Coloniales de Honduras (Tegucigalpa: Centro de Publicaciones Obispado de Choluteca.emory.library. 101-102." William and Mary Quarterly. Santiago. 1993). vezino de la ciudad de Santiago de Guatemala. "Milicias negras y mulatas en el reino de Guatemala (siglo XVIII). and Germán J.jhu. November 12-13. 3d. see James H. "Undoing Racial Hierarchy: Mulatos and Militia Service in Colonial Guatemala. "La población. 10 "Copia del memorial de abisso que el capitán Cristóbal de Lorenzana. de Archivos. Richard Konetzke (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas." in Leyva. with a succinct accompanying 17 of 22 3/24/14. series. 11 According to Lorenzana. 317. 1994). in Historia General de Guatemala. Peter Gerhard. 2(1):182-183. 2:471-472. 57-96.. 1575-1742 (originally published as Pirates on the West Coast of New Spain. vol. 1978). (Guatemala: EDUCA. 235-238.edu/journals/journal_of. 1575-1742) (Lincoln. 29-30. Andrews. 1925). 1993). 1532-1560: A Social History. 1493-1810. Tex. 165-166. Robinson A. 3 vols.proxy.: University of Wisconsin Press.: University of Nebraska Press. Studies in African American History and Culture (New York: Garland.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and. ed. Pirates of the Pacific. The Spanish Caribbean: Trade and Plunder 1530-1630 (New Haven. Neb. 123. 15-16. and Africans in Sixteenth-Century Santiago de Guatemala (Austin. 115-116. Joaquín Pardo.edu. Herrera. (Madison. Voelz. 13 For orders banning the arming of slaves in 1612 and 1628. 121." See "Copia del memorial de abisso. Documentos. 112. 1967). "La piratería en la Capitanía General de Guatemala".emory.: University of Texas Press." in Leyva.. Natives. Documentos. J. ed. On early French and English assaults. Europeans. Wis. James Lockhart. ed. Troy S. 1944). The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 12 "Copia del memorial de abisso. Bearing Arms. 11-14. 18-22. a popular saying among people of African origins was "Español para María y negro para fuerça. Efemérides para escribir la historia de la muy noble y muy leal ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros del reino de Guatemala (Guatemala: Sociedad de Geografía e Historia.. 2d.. Spanish Peru. 4:33 PM . 17 (Madrid: Tipografía de la "Rev. see Colección de documentos para la historia de la formación social de Hispanoamérica. For excellent maps on the history of piracy in Central America.jhu. http://muse. 194-195. Peter M.. Bibliotecas y Museos". Slave and Soldier: The Military Impact of Blacks in the Colonial Americas. Kenneth R. 2003). 1990). Floyd. Historias de Piratas. 2d. Horacio Cabezas Carcache. 1977).: Yale University Press. 14. See also Vinson.library. 118. including Francis Drake's. see Pedro Pérez Valenzuela. 1953. 2d. 14 Colección de documentos inéditos de ultramar. Carmelo Sáenz de Santa María.. Efemérides. 2. A1. Historia de la América Central. José Milla. ex. Murdo J.4093.: Harvard University Press. 1570-1650 (Cambridge.15. 1520-1720 (Berkeley: University of California Press." Obras completas de Salomé Jil (José Milla) 11-12 (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional. N.77-77v (1605). 5th. MacLeod. leg. 4:33 PM .4092. cartographer (Norman. 41. leg.. 7 July 1642. 16 AGCA. 2003). 1519-1650. 2 vols.emory. 1966). don Manuel de Ungría Girón to the Spanish Crown.19. ex." Hispanic American Historical Review 46:3 (1966): 250-251. Historical Atlas of Central America. Okla. leg. AGI. R. A1. leg.jhu. 2: 300-302. ex. Archivo General de Indias (hereafter AGI). Santo Tomás de Castilla: Apuntes para la historia de las colonizaciones en la costa atlántica (Guatemala: n. 20 March 1605. 1611-1626. Im(age).: University of Oklahoma Press. http://muse. Antonio de Remesal. A1.15. vol. "La piratería. A1.2. 1976). Audiencia President Diego de Avendaño to the Crown. 17 AGCA. 1956).43. A1.4092.4588. 134-135. 12. Colección "Juan Chapín. ed. Spanish Central America: A Socioeconomic History. Palmer.15.1514. leg. 462-463. ex.23. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico. Historia general de las Indias Occidentales y particular de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala. 19 David M. narrative. 67.edu/journals/journal_of. "Negro Slave Control and Resistance in Colonial Mexico.. 156-158.. Cotter." 474. Guatemala 16. Audiencia de Guatemala.4820.32467 (1609). A1.3.. Mass. 1976). Audiencia de Guatemala. 135-140. AGI. 15 Cabezas.6. R(oll).32462 (1607). see Carolyn Hall and Héctor Pérez Brignoli. 1973).. Davidson. Pardo. fols.proxy.32461 (1605). 18 of 22 3/24/14.p.Paul Lokken | Useful Enemies: Seventeenth-Century Piracy and.41525 (1601). John V.39541 (1599). ex. Pedro Pérez Valenzuela.23.12 (reference to digitalized format). Colin A. leg. 18 Autos del servicio que hizo el capitán Juan Ruiz de Avilés a su costa y minción de la conquista y pacificación de los negros alzados que estaban en la barra y montañas de Tulate..library. ed. N(umber).edu. 13-21. Biblioteca de Autores Españoles 189 (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas. ..45251 (1622).edu.3. as at least 10 ships brought human cargo from West Central Africa in particular to Central American ports between 1613 and 1628 alone. 2:28.. fol. 18 May 1615. AGCA.4060. 26 Floyd. Im. Guatemala. A1. Memorias para la historia del antiguo reino de Guatemala. 41.12. N. N.17. 42. AGI.47. 27-51. 17. Efemérides. Guatemala.jhu.1291 (1613). Biblioteca �Goathemala' 21-23 (Guatemala: Sociedad de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala.17. A1. 19 of 22 3/24/14. Libro de los Pareceres. A1. was repeated without visible effect in 1617 and 1620. ex. 24 Audiencia President Conde de la Gomera to the Crown.emory. 1995).67. leg. Germán Romero Vargas. leg. N. 26 May 1638. ed.23. http://muse. See AGCA. Crown to Audiencia President Diego de Acuña. Francis Gall.proxy. ex. AGI Guatemala 14. 3 vols. 32..10071. ed. 19 May 1609. R.. A3.4553. Pardo. Bearing Arms.31537 (1646). 1996) 99-100.5356. 3d. 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