Slavery in the Americas before Columbus
Olmec, Maya, Aztecs, and Inca
Everyone knows of the Maya, Aztecs and Inca. But, the Olmec established the first civilization in Mesoamerica. They lived on the tropical lowlands, behind the Gulf Coast, and reigned over the states of Veracruz and Tabasco (Mexico). The Olmec world flourished between 1500 BC and 400 BC and laid foundations for later American civilizations. They played a sports game with a heavy rubber ball, that weighed almost 4 kilos. Long ago some clever Olmec had found out that by extracting latex from the Castilla Elastica tree and mixing it with the juice of a white flower called Ipomoea Alba[1], produced a stuff that could bounce in funny ways. All over Mesoamerica and far beyond in the Americas archaeologists have found more than thousand large ruins of ball courts with daunting walls, adjacent to civic or religious centres. Some date back to 1500 BC.[2]
Variations of this ball game are still practiced to day. Players have to kick back an eight pound rubber-ball from their hips. In another version they use their forearms for beating the ball forward. Oral history tells that spectators tended to bet on the outcome of the game. Heavy betting could lead to such severe losses that people had to enslave themselves to pay off their debt. Ulama, once the game of Mesoamerican Kings and warriors, is kept alive in a few remote villages. Also it has been reintroduced to give tourists is Mexico City an “authentic feel”.[3]
We don’t know how these people called themselves. Archaeologists needed a label and opted for Ōlmēcatl, which means Rubber People in the Nahuatl language. Soon this got shortened to Olmec. The most famous artworks of the Olmec are colossal heads. Most of them present their rulers. There are statues of famous Ulama players too, to be admired in The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The Olmec used a Long Count Calendar. Their number system was not decimal, but based on the number 20. More striking is their use of the number zero. This is one of the earliest uses of the zero-concept in human history. It appears that the zero was invented twice, independently popping up on the Eastern and the Western Hemisphere.
Probably the Olmec also were the first civilization on the Western Hemisphere that developed the art of writing. Unfortunately, their hieroglyphs have not been deciphered yet. (Maybe AI might do the trick.) The Olmec built impressive stone mounds, pyramids, thrones, and large rooms or halls for sports, festivities and ceremonies. They have erected steles, sculptured impressive statues of basalt and beautiful figurines. They also created masks made of jade and laid mosaic floors with ceramic tiles.[4] One disclaimer: some of the ruins that are ascribed to the Olmec might have come from a prequel civilization that lived earlier.[5]
For centuries the late Olmec and the early Maya lived alongside each other in Mexico, exchanging ideas, trading goods and, most probably, also slaves. They used similar calendars and strongly believed that humans could change into animals, such as jaguars, eagles and snakes. Were-jaguars, beings that were half human and half jaguar, played an important role in their religion.[6] Several statues of these imaginary beings have been found, including sculptures of women with were-jaguar babies on their lap. Apparently, they believed that jaguars could impregnate women.
The decline of the Olmec coincided with the rise of the Maya. Around 800 CE, also the highly sophisticated Maya civilization, counting about 19 million people, began to collapse. Recent research shows that they suffered from long periods of severe draught. Their decline could also be explained by man-made deforestation.[7] But the Maya civilization did not collapse completely. It re-emerged. New city-states were built. After a second period of decline, the Maya moved from the tropical southern lowlands into the more arid Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. This time they got influenced by the Aztecs. Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca, ancient Maya states never built a proper empire. The Maya world consisted of a very loosely coupled federation of city-states, led by local kings or high priests. The top of the elite consisted of men related to the royal bloodline or born into wealthy and powerful non-royal families. The next in line were nobles, merchants, and artisans. Below them followed the commoners and peasants, responsible for farming, crafting tools and weaving. Slaves formed a special category. Most of them were prisoners of war.
Maya kings were viewed and revered as gods. Their images formed the main subject of all artwork and, most likely, also the main focus of most hieroglyphic texts. Maya priests perform religious ceremonies and educated the sons of nobles. They taught them to read and write and introduced them to mathematics, religious rituals and astrology. King Montezuma II condemned astrologer-priests to slavery for life whenever they failed to predict bad events.[8]
Archaeologists have found ruins of strong defensive walls, stockpiles of weaponry (rocks and spearheads) as well as depictions of wars between the Maya and the Olmec, and wars between different Mayan city-states over access to land, water, food and valuable materials. Warfare was deeply rooted in Maya religion. And so were offering rituals. Everyone, from king to commoner, made regular offerings. Offerings could be food, incense, blood or living men, women and children. Olmecs and Mayans believed that blood-letting sacrifices were necessary to please the Gods and to assure that the Gods would continue to provide for them. Blood was seen as the essence of life. This was based on the belief that the Gods sacrificed themselves for the good of humanity.[9]
Divine blood is the life force of the universe. Aztecs believed that they were expected to sacrifice their own blood too, plus that of certain animals. The more painful the letting of blood, the more valuable is the offering. Some men even cut themselves on the tongue and their genitalia. At special occasions, such as the dedication of new important buildings, the death of a king or the coronation of his successor they sacrificed a large number of men, women and children. Common forms of sacred killings were heart extractions, decapitation, and gladiator battles. Most sacrificed men were enemy warriors, though slaves and even children were sacrificed too. In periods of severe drought, the Aztec and the Maya even sacrificed children to please Tlaloc, the God of Rain, Water and Earth Fertility. Children were thrown in sacred sink holes where they died by drowning.
Spanish post-conquest sources report that in 1487 the Aztecs sacrificed more than 80,000 people in a four day ceremony to honour the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Technoctitlan. This number can’t be true. If true it would have meant the killing of 15 victims per minute, requiring hundreds of executioners. Such a high number of prisoners of war or other disposable people like debt-slaves could never have been gathered for this occasion, let alone being ritually killed in a neatly prescribed ceremonious fashion. I assume that even the most enthusiastic and devout spectators would get either bored or sick of it long before the ceremony would end. Clearly Spanish chroniclers concocted this absurd number to justify the war crimes of the Spanish conquests. Old aged Aztecs who talked with missionaries spoke of about 4,000 in total. This equals about 1,000 victims per day, still quite a lot of beheadings and heart extractions for such a festivity in God’s honour.[10]
The calendar of the Aztecs consisted of a civic cycle of 365 days (18 periods of 20 days, plus five unlucky days) and a shorter ritual cycle of 260 days (20 periods of 13 days each). Aztecs believed that children born on the first day of the series that was called Océlotl (Jaguar) would be unlucky and destined to become enslaved one day, say, after being captured by enemies.[11] Other unlucky persons became enslaved, because they had to pay off gambling debts. Enslaved they no longer had to worry about their debts and how to survive. From then on their master had to provide them with water, food, and shelter. These slaves were bound to their master’s land until their debt was repaid with toiling the fields or as rowers and workers in the cacao groves. Drinking hot chocolate was a favourite drink then. Many slaves served in palaces. When their rich and noble master died also 40 of his servants were being sacrificed: 20 men and 20 women. They were supposed to serve the deceased master in the afterlife. One of the most respected positions for a commoner was the cleansing of slaves before his sacrificial death.[12] Well-to-do Aztecs could avoid sacrificial death by offering one or two of their slaves to be sacrificed during public rituals. Some slaves were specially bought for this reason. One had to pay 25% more for excellent enslaved dancers and singers than for simple weavers.[13]
Slaves could only be sold with their own consent, unless they had committed some crimes and had proven to be incorrigible. Then they would be collared with a big wooden contraption that would make fleeing extremely difficult. If a collared servant had been sold three times, he or she could be bought to be sacrificed. Hence, they were in high demand. Enslaved persons had some freedom. After working hours they could earn extra money and buy their own slaves.[14]
There is no proof of slave rebellions among the Olmec, Maya, or Aztecs. This does not mean that they have not happened. Ages of oppression, exploitation and blatant inequality must have led to individual or small-scale insurgencies, though standing up against kings or high priests equalled opposing divine power. Probably most of these insurgencies were crushed within days. A main reason for our lack of knowledge about such slave insurrections before the age of documentation, is that chroniclers in their right mind would never waste an awful lot of time and energy on an extremely cumbersome hieroglyphic recording of failed small revolts against the high and mighty.
The Inca civilization is less ancient. It stems from the 13th century. The Quecha word Inca means ruler or lord. It refers to the entire ruling class. Less than one per cent of the total population belonged to this elite category.[15] Inca rulers demanded that all their subjects delivered a fair share of work for the empire. Most people were peasants. They did most of the work; manual work that had to be done for a few or for many hours a day, depending on the rhythm of the seasons. These subjugated peasants had to produce enough food for everyone. Since peasants had to build their own homes and barns, they had developed the right skills for construction work. Hence, Inca rulers compelled them to build adequate housing, roads and bridges for all government officials. This way there was no need for old-fashioned slavery. Their system worked very much like a serf system.
In 1438, the Inca began a northward expansion campaign under command of King Pachacuti-Cusi Yupanqui. Step by step, Pachacuti and his son Tupac Yupanqui and their successors conquered the entire Andean Mountain area.[16] Around 1475, Tupac Yupanqui defeated the Chachapoyas, the “Warriors of the Clouds.” They lived high in the Andes mountain range in present-day Peru. They and the Inca had been fighting each other for ages. The Chachapoya had built fortifications like the citadel of Kuélap, which predates the citadel of Machu Pichu by at least 700 years. Experts have deduced from its ruins that Kuélap must have been a very important urban, political and religious site. Strategically, the site was well chosen. It sits high on a misty mountain, 3000m above the Utcubamba River, overlooking a large valley area. Yet, Kuélaps defence was not full proof. It ruins show that its residents and warriors fell victim to a bloody massacre and that its typical round and thatched roofed dwellings have been set to fire. The city was abandoned in the late 1500s. What rests is an attractive tourist site that can be reached by a cable car.[17]
Whenever Incas invaded a new region they first offered gifts to the chieftain of the conquered tribe. It was an offer chieftains could not refuse. Leaders that dared to refuse were executed before the eyes of their tribesmen, just to secure loyalty among the rest of the population. As soon as chieftains accepted the Inca gifts and Inca authority, a new alliance was forged. Next, the alliance was consolidated with marriages between siblings and children of both leaders. In the case of the rebellious Chachapoya, the Inca used the method of ethnic dispersion. They divided them in smaller groups and forced them to resettle in remote locations of the Inca Empire, far away from their birth grounds. Thus, the Inca had less to fear from insurgencies. Of course this forced relocation led to deep feelings of hatred against the Inca. This explains why the Chachapoya joined Spanish invaders that fought against the mighty Inca.
Under the reign of Huayna Capac, the empire covered most of present day Peru and large parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, an area comparable with the great empires of historic Asia and Europe. When Huayna Capac died, his two sons started a ferocious fight over his succession, which weakened the Inca at the very moment that Spanish conquistadors invaded their territory. The Spanish got help and decisive information from the Chachapoya.[18] Loosing battle after battle must have been a great shock to the almighty Inca, who had been conquering others for ages. Now it was their turn to be defeated, captured, killed or enslaved. For them this a great humiliation. All the more so, because Pizarro’s army consisted only of 168 men and 27 horses. The conquistadores confronted the unbeaten Incas with superior modern weaponry: long metal guns against wooden spears, steel armour. against armour wrought from Alpaca fibre, iron balls shot by cannons against slinging stones. The Inca simply did not stand a chance.
November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro sent Friar Vicente Valverde to the Inca King of Kings, to invite him and his men to a great feast. First Valverde urged Atahualpa to convert to Christianity and to accept the authority of Charles I, the King of Spain, a faraway King an nation the Inca never had heard of. When Atahualpa refused, Pizarro gave the sign to shoot the traditionally armed Inca fighters. The Spanish troops slaughtered the Inca in just over an hour. Pizarro personally saw to it that Atahualpa was captured alive. He figured that he would be more useful alive then dead. He was right. A few months later, Atahualpa offered Pizarro a storage room full of gold and silver to regain his freedom. Pizarro consented and gladly received the ransom. To Atahualpa’s horror Francisco Pizarro, the Marques of Atabillos, broke his word of honour. He accused King Atahualpa of stirring up a rebellion and sentenced him to be burnt at the stake. At very the last minute, Friar Valverde offered Atahualpa clemency if he would convert. This time, Atahualpa gave in. But the Spanish Christians would betray him for the second time around. He was strangulated on August 29, 1533. This utterly ignoble event marked the end of the Inca Empire and the start of the illegal Spanish occupation of huge parts of South and Central America and a long period of colonial slavery.[19]
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4.2. Slavery in North America before 1492
Comanche, Yurok, Pawnee and Klamath-Indians enslaved people long before the Europeans arrived. Historians have estimated that before 1491 about a quarter of Pacific North-West Tribes were enslaved.[20] Yet, for decades US anthropologists have ignored slavery among North American Natives. Some of them found evidence of bondage, but considered its scale too small to mention. Ronald and Evelyn Rohner wrote that the only function of enslaved captives of the Kwakiutl was adding prestige to their owners and decided not to discuss it further.[21] Edward Curtis acknowledged that such slavery existed, but underlined that it was more humane than colonial slavery. This apologetic approach dominated the field for decades. Even slavery specialist David Brion Davis does not mention it in his comprehensive study.[22] Therefore, last century you could find next to nothing about indigenous slavery in US school libraries.
Little by little the veil over tribal slavery in North America got lifted. In 1990, the Smithsonian Book of North American Indians mentioned that in some tribes children of slaves became enslaved by birth. Rarely, they were set free. Enslaved war captives did not belong to the clan and had no rights. Young and healthy slaves ran the risk to be sacrificed when their master died, for services in his afterlife. The Iroquois waged “mourning wars” to avenge and replace their dead.[23] To prevent captured enemies from running away some tribes cut off one of their feet. Other tribes treated enslaved people with much more decency and respect. Often this led to quick integration. The Creek arranged marriages between captured men and their own war widows.[24] So, it could happen that a Creek widow married the very man that had scalped her husband just before he himself was captured. Some clans did kidnap men, women, and children from rival clans and sold them to other tribes. After Columbus had disembarked on “Hispaniola” and Europeans settled in the Americas, the Creek also sold their victims to European colonizers. The growing demand for enslaved workers stimulated Native Americans to kidnap more men and women. This triggered extra tribal wars.[25]
European traders, mostly British colonists operating from Charleston, induced Native American tribes to capture and enslave other Native Indians by offering them much desired European goods. Ships from Charleston carried these captives to Barbados, New York, Antigua and other ports in the Atlantic world, far away from their places of birth. They might run away into the wild, but they would never return their home grounds.
Trader/colonists used the capital gained from the trade of enslaved Natives for the expansion of their plantations and also for the purchase of enslaved Africans. Blacks proved to be more suited for hard labour in the fields. For colonists trading slaves was an easy way of making money. For American Natives it was a risky business. Making war with other tribes always led to considerable losses and highly revengeful enemies: far more than ever before. To satisfy the growing demand some tribes extended their campaign to areas further away from home.
Tracking southward from Charleston, Carolina, a joint army of British and native raiders followed raids upon the natives of Georgia and those in Spanish missions in northern Florida. The Chickasaw had forged good relations with the English. They became key slavers of the lower Mississippi Valley. It is estimated that more than 50,000 captured Natives were exported from Charleston, Boston and Salem. Also the French shipped a considerable number of enslaved Natives from New Orleans to the Caribbean.
Learning facts like these, American-Indian anthropologist William Moreau Goins, felt compelled to shed new light on the history of American-Indian slavery. Until his death, in 2017, Goins worked tirelessly to produce a clearer view on this neglected topic.[26] Thanks to him, we know that the story of American slavery is more complex than the simple, white-black narrative historians and social scientists have created of US slavery. Now we know that American Indians practiced slavery on a large scale long before 1492. Among them, the share of the enslaved could be as high as 25 per cent. Similar percentages have been calculated for the share of enslaved people in Ancient European and Asian societies.
After 1492, Native American slavery got closely connected with colonial slavery. Several tribes traded indigenous people with European settlers. Also, they helped European colonists to catch runaway Africans and received substantial rewards for returning them. The growing colonists demand for slaves sharply increased the number of tribal wars between Native-Americans, killing numerous warriors and capturing many others, including wives and children. This tragic history has largely been forgotten; partly, because the Natchez, Westo, Yamasee, Euchee, Yazoo and Tawasa did not like to tell these tragic stories to their children, grandchildren and other descendents. Also the large majority of European Americans did and still does not like to be reminded of these tragic events, though they make exception for a few romanticized events such as Pocahontas saving her lover John Smith, and the first Thanksgiving: Pilgrims and Indians sharing a meal. [27] These two stories still offer the strongest and most cherished images of American Indians and the colonization of North America.[28] Though these charming events really might have happened, they are in no way emblematic for shocking and shameful things that happened after 1492.
[1] Of course these Latin names have been proposed by western scientists. Presently these flowers are also known as the Morning Glory or Moon Flower.
[2] Susan Schroeder: The Mexico that Spain Encountered. In: Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley (Eds). The Oxford History of Mexico: Oxford University Press. pp 47-50
[3] Colleen P. Popson: Extreme Sport. Archaeology: Volume 56 Number 5, September/October 2003
[4] Olmec Civilization: World History Encyclopedia. Worldhistory.org. Retrieved: 30 November 2023
[5] Olmecs: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved; 28 November 2023
[6] Not long ago Europeans and Americans believed in that humans cold change into were-wolves.
[7] Joseph Stromberg: Why Did the Mayan Civilization Collapse? August 23, 2012. Retrieved: 4 April 2022
[8] Aztec Slavery: Wikipedia refers to Miriam López Hernández, (2012): Aztec women and goddesses. México City: FCAS- Fundación Cultural Armella Spitalier
[9] Human sacrifice in Aztec culture: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved 8 July 2025 (Christians believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God, was sacrificed for the sake of redeeming their sins.)
[10] Idem
[11] Aztecs at Mexicolore: www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/calendar/birth-sign-bonanza-one-jaguar
[12] Human sacrifice in Aztec culture: wikipedia.org.
[13] José Luis de Rojas: Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire.
[14] Aztec slavery: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec slavery
[15] McEwan, Gordon F. (2008). The Incas: New Perspectives. W.W. Norton, Inc. p. 93
[16] Inca Empire: Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire#Weapons,_armor_and_warfare
[17] Brendan Sainsbury: The History of Peru’s Cloud Warriors. Historytoday.com. Retrieved: 28 January 2025. Chachapoya culture: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 28 January 2025
[18] Inca expansion and its government: Discover Peru.org Retrieved: 14 February 2022
[19] Francisco Pizarro traps Incan emperor Atahualpa. History.com Editors: History.com/This-day-in- history/ Francisco-Pizarro-traps-Incan-Emperor-Atahualpa. Retrieved: 4 April 2022
[20] Wikipedia: Slavery among Natives in the United States. Retrieved: 19 October 2021; Wikipedia refers to Reséndez Andrés (2016): The Other Slavery. The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Slavery in America: Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Guide to Black History. www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article24158
[21] Stark, Rodney: “The Truth about the Catholic Church and Slavery”. Christianity Today, 7-1-2003; Ronald and Evelyn Rohner, quoted by Rodney Stark, o. c. p 294
[22] David Brion Davis: Inhuman Bondage. The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2006.
[23] Andrés Reséndez: Perspective: The Other Slavery. americanindian.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/seminars-symposia/the-other-slavery-perspective.pdf
[24] Kathryn E. Holland Braund (1991): “The Creek Indians, Blacks, and Slavery” The Journal of Southern History. 57 (4): 601–636; Native American slave ownership: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 22 October 2022
[25] William Moreau Goins: The forgotten Story of American Indian Slavery. Teachers Guide: South Carolina Indians Today. Pantribalconfederacy.com. Retrieved: 24 November 2023; Tony Seybert (4 August 2004) “Slavery and native Americans in British North America and the United States: 1600 to 1865.” http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_indians_slavery.htm
[26] Dr. Goins served as CEO for the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois, and United Tribes of South Carolina. Johnny Thomas Fowler: Will Goins: “Salu.” www.wncw.org/podcast/wordstage/2022-12-05/will-goins-salu. Retrieved: 27 November 2023
[27] These are the words of Dr. Goins, and how right he is/was. Redrafting my text on this chapter, I was listening to Peggy Lee singing “Fever.” In this song the love between Pocahontas and John Smith is presented as a fine specimen of the power of love, as a power that can bridge ethnic differences. The text of this song and the sweet-voiced sound of Peggy Lee gently cover a disgraceful past with the mantle of love.
[28] William Moreau Goins: The forgotten Story of American Indian Slavery. Teachers Guide: South Carolina Indians Today. Pantribalconfederacy.com.