Expansion of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1501–1510)

Timeline

1. 1501Hispaniola · HispaniolaFerdinand and Isabella, at the colonial authorities' request, authorized importing a small number of African slaves to Hispaniola's plantations to offset labor shortages caused by the collapse of the indigenous population, marking royal legitimation of the transatlantic slave trade.
2. 1502–1508Salvador · BrazilPortuguese colonists established sugar plantations along the Brazilian coast, transporting enslaved Africans from the Gulf of Guinea and the Congo region via Lisbon and the Cape Verde Islands as plantation labor, with slave fleet voyages and numbers increasing year by year.
3. 1509–1510Seville · CastileSeville, as the monopoly port for American trade, required royal registration and tariffs for slave imports; Portuguese and Castilian merchants divided West African purchasing zones through bilateral agreements, and the Atlantic triangular trade network began to take shape.