Slavery in Cartagena

Cartagena has a long history with slavery, that ranges from the 1500s to the early 1800s. It was one of three Spanish ports allowed to take in slave shipments in the Spanish Americas, and was one of the most popular. This led to an economy based on labor of African slaves. This also made Cartagena a place with rich African heritage and racial discourse, including the Cartagena witch trials and conflicts with neighboring maroon villages. Many ladinos became ship workers, and later these ship workers fought for independence from Spain starting in 1810. After freedom was decreed in 1821 the new government decided on manumissions and freed births to gradually end slavery.^[1]