Slaves and Captives Between Castile, Granada, and the Canary Islands: Frontier and Judicial Dynamics in the 15th and 16th Centuries

Abstract

By analyzing the encounters at the borders between the Kingdom of Castile and Granada, and those on the Canary Islands, this paper delves into the dynamics of slavery and captivity practiced by Christians, Muslims, and the Indigenous inhabitants of the Canarias archipelago between the 15th and 16th centuries. Legal and judicial documents from this period show how common human trafficking was in the peripheries of the Spanish dominions even before the overseas expansion. This activity often included revolts, horseback raids, robberies, death, the capture and enslavement of people, and other notions such as slavery under ›just war‹, which sometimes blurred the margins between slavery and captivity. Whether at sea or on land, life in the frontier was a difficult one, with people exposed to many dangers. Furthermore, these local practices had global significance once the Spanish Empire expanded its frontiers to America and beyond.