Spain controlled the area now known as Florida from the 16th to the 18th centuries which resulted in the development of a mode of resistance which held off British and United States settlers and slave drivers for 200 years

Chattel slavery in North America in the popular mind has its origins within the English colonies of Virginia and neighboring territories.

In 1619, 20 Africans from the area now known as Angola, were kidnapped and transported circuitously to the colony of Virginia.

Yet, more than a century before the establishment of the colony of Virginia and the proliferation of African enslavement, explorer Christopher Columbus had been contracted by the Spanish monarchy to search for riches beyond Europe. Thinking he was in India, Columbus landed in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which is today’s states of Haiti and Dominican Republic.

These historical circumstances would initiate a new economic system based upon the capture, sell and forced labor of African people. In the Caribbean, many of the Indigenous people died from forced labor and diseases imposed upon them by the European colonialists.

Beginning in 1513, Spanish explorers moved into the area known today as the State of Florida where they set up colonial outposts. They brought with them enslaved Africans who were later subjected to a system of labor exploitation which took into account the need for collaborators in their colonial endeavors.

By the mid-1600s, Spain would be in fierce competition with the English over the control of trading routes, the seizure of lands and the enslavement of African people. Portugal, one of the major rivals of Spain, also conquered territory in South America later known as Brazil.

In addition to the presence of Spain, Britain and Portugal in the Western Hemisphere, France took over areas in the South along with Quebec in Canada. The Netherlands moved into the Northeast region in the early 1600s taking over the areas which are known today as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, among others.

However, the British would take control of New York rendering the Dutch to a secondary colonial role in North America. Eventually they would force out the Spanish and French colonialists in the Southeast and Southwest of the North American continent.

One source on the history of Spanish colonialism and slavery in North Americanoted:

Source: Global Research