Enslavement of indigenous peoples in North America

Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas took many forms throughout North and South America. Slavery was a common institution among various Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas. Indigenous peoples owned indigenous slaves, and after contact, owned African slaves.

European colonies purchased indigenous people as slaves as part of the international indigenous American slave trade, which lasted from the late 15th century into the 19th century. Recently, scholars Andrés Reséndez and Brett Rushforth have estimated that between two and five million indigenous people were enslaved as part of this trade. Although slavery is illegal throughout the Americas, some indigenous peoples are still enslaved today.

The encomienda system was an agreement between the Council of the Indies and the Spanish crown to exchange education and protection from warring tribes for the use of the land owned by the caciques, lords, or encomenderos and the promise of seasonal labour. Intermittently, the colonists needed to purge these anaborios (native mercenaries). From the earliest days on the Caribbean islands they settled, the Spanish encomenderos precipitated many revolts and hostilities, both Native American and Spanish in origin, through their harsh treatment. One of the first localities for intensive use of encomienda was the gold mines of Hispaniola.

Native American slavery was also practiced by the English in the Carolinas who sold Native American captives into slavery locally and on the English plantations in the Caribbean. One of the first tribes that specialized in slave raids and trade with Carolina was the Westo, followed by many others including the Yamasee, Chickasaw, and Creek. Historian Alan Gallay estimates the number of Native Americans in southeast America sold in the British slave trade from 1670 to 1715 as between 24,000 and 51,000. He also notes that during this period more slaves (Native American, African, or otherwise) were exported from Charles Town than imported. Slaving of Indians in Carolinas had been forbidden in about 1672.

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