The Slave Trade to Santa Fe (Rio de la Plata) and its Connections with the Atlantic and Inter-American Slave Routes, 1641-1812

The history of slave trade in the city of Santa Fe (Argentina) in colonial times has been largely overlooked. The first enslaved Africans arrived in the city in the 17th century and hundreds of captives were trafficked there until the slave trade was banned by republican authorities in 1812. Although several studies have documented the importance of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata in regional and global slave trade networks, there has been no systematic attempt to analyze the local dynamics, phases, volumes, origins and circuits involving Santa Fe. In order to fill this gap, this article delineates the growth and development of the slave trade in the city between 1641 and 1812, relying on information gleaned from notarial records-slave bills of sale-, parish records -baptismal and marriage registers -as well as data from Slave Voyages. In this way, it accounts for Santa Fe's early integration into Atlantic and inter-American slave trading routes that connected Africa, Brazil and the Rio de la Plata.