Slave-related handwritten manuscripts

Many international Slave-related handwritten manuscripts from colonial Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and other parts of South America, Puerto (Porto) Rico and Cuba...most written in Old Spanish -- Dates: 1553, 1567(3 documents), 1597, 1604, 1608, 1609 (2 documents), 1610, 1612, 1640, 1641, 1672, 1675, 1682, 1688, 1689 (2 documents), 1690, 1706, 1768, 1772, 1774, 1775, 1782, 1785, 1789, 1798, 1799, 1803, 1806, 1811, 1814, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1831, 1836 (2 documents), 1837, 1839, 1840, 1844, 1845, 1852, 1858, 1860 & more...The slaves, all from Africa, were sold in Buenos Aires. This was their first port and generally the original place of sale for slaves being brought into South America.  From there they were sold and then transported to other places in South America.  Usually, when being taken to Peru their first port was Valparaiso near Santiago where slaves were dropped off, and the rest were transported onto Peru, into the port of Callao, which is in Lima.  These slaves were usually given a 60 day "heart" guarantee, and any heart malady after the warranty period fell onto the buyer.

Here are some examples:

-- 1553, Extremely rare, signed Peru (Spanish) colonial handwritten, fascinating manuscript...written in Old Spanish. Merchant, Diego de Ribera, citizen of Arequipa city (south Andes of Peru), sells to Cristobal de Rueda: "...a Black slave, from Mozambique, named Cristobal, which has a healthy of title and had of good war, and surely with choral drop and bad of earth and that is not evasive, neither thief nor fugitive.. neither it has other faults nor diseases(!) by price of 300 Pesos from assayed and marked silver..." The file is dated June 6, 1553. It is interesting to analyze the term: "had of good war", surely a justification of slave traders with respect to the storing of slaves in Africa, avoiding conflicts with certain tribes. "Gota Coral" is the ancient term for epilepsy, because one thought that a great drop of blood struck the heart. Exceptional document for its age!! One leaf = 2 pages, signed and complete! No moth, humidity or foxing. 
-- 1609, Original complete signed Spanish Colony in Peru. It details the giving of a Black slave, Fransisco (valued at 680 silver pesos) as a part of the payment of debt to a Catholic convent. The debtor is the Knight of the Calatrava Order of Don Juan de Abalos Riberia.
-- 1689, The sale of a Black slave woman, Maria Criolla (19 years of age) for 500 silver pesos. The seller is Don Jose DeAvila and the buyer is "Hacienda de Vilca Huaura".
-- 1706 signed contract for the sale of a Black woman in Cochabama, Bolivia.
-- 1798 signed contract for the sale of Segundo, a young Black man in Bolivia.
-- 1836, The sale of a Black slave woman, Jacoba, 15 years old (daughter of another slave woman named Jacoba) for 200 silver pesos. The seller is Don Manuel Salazar and the buyer is Don Mariano Hermenegildo.

<-- An impossible to find 1859 Cuban Slave Contract defining the purchase of Chinese slave, Chang Chew. Pictured to the left, this document is written in Chinese on the rear. The front of the contract is written in Spanish.
-- 1858 List of Captured Runaway Slaves in Cuba -- There existed many groups of slaves throughout Latin America called "Cimarrones" (Wild Ones). This document details those who had fled their masters and had been captured by the police. The term Cimarron means "runaway slave" and refers mainly to African slaves who had run away from their Spanish masters. Many slave uprisings were sponsored by these groups across the Caribbean and Latin America.
-- 1860 list of 372 Chinese Laborers (Slaves?) who have disembarked from the ship, Loyola. The ages are between 30-35 years of age. This may have been because the Cubans were running out of younger laborers.
-- 1803 signed slave contract from Peru, under Spanish Kingdom Colony domination. The document details the sale of a male slave who had happened to come from Valparaiso, Chile.
-- 1768 document detailing the sale of Theresa (24 years of age), a slave being sold in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

-- 1619 rare document (4 pages) detailing the sale of Manuel, a slave being sold in Bolivia. It also gives a glimpse into colonial life in that part of South America.
-- 1597 intriguing document about colonial life in Bolivia, including the business between Alvaro Martin and a priest in a monastery.
-- 14-page Peruvian register from the San Bartolome Hospital (1811 -- only for Black slaves, pictured below)
-- Cuban Ship (Matano') Document -- leaving Havana for Barcelona, Spain on October 3, 1822.
-- Cuban Ship Document -- leaving Habanna (sic) for Barcelona, Spain on April 5, 1820.
-- 1875 Cuba Slave identification document with Havana police.
-- 1856 Cuban document explaining what has been done to avoid the landing of a ship transporting slaves from Africa to Cuba.  The letter is directed to the gentlemen governing the brigadier politico and the military head of the jurisdiction -- Jatibonico, a municipality in the Sancti Spiritus Province of Cuba.

-- 1840 ship registration (Portugal) with one slave aboard. The ship "Palas" arrived at Montevideo from Rio de Janeiro, and later left for Pernambuco. It carried 1 slave (police report).