Why did the Spaniards not bring African slaves to Philippines?

• The Spaniards brought African slaves to practically all their colonies particularly in the Americas. They did not bring them to the Philippines. I have three tentative answers for the reason(s): 1. Problem of distance and transport. But then distances hardly stopped European colonists from transporting slaves to areas far from Europe. Just look how all Latin American countries have sizeable populations of people of African descent. 2. There was no need. The natives of the American colonies (North American and South American indigenous peoples) did not allow themselves to be enslaved enduring deprivations and even tortures so that the Spaniards were forced to bring enslaved Negroes from Africa. On the other hand, the Malay-Indonesian descended peoples particularly of Luzon and Visayas, after converting to Catholicism, were willing enough to work for/with Spaniards. Of course, the majority of them were dragooned into the encomiendas that made them the equivalent of European feudal serfs. History shows that the Spaniards allowed them some limited social mobility and unlike other Europeans, they had a more liberal attitude towards interracial marriage, many of them being of mixed ancestry (Moriscos) because of centuries of Arab occupation. Many Spaniards of course were also Conversos or Jewish converts to Catholicism. Many of these Spaniards of mixed ancestry chose to emigrate to escape social discrimination in Spain on account of their mixed blood. The exception among Philippine inhabitants were the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu who successfully resisted Spanish colonization in their enclaves. The Igorots of Luzon on the other hand just refused to live in the poblaciones choosing to move when their domains were being settled by Spaniards and Christianized Filipinos The Igorots eventually ended up in the mountains of the Cordillera ranges and had little contact with the semi-Europeanized and Christianized mainstream Filipinos until the Americans opened up the Luzon mountain provinces in their search for gold mines in the early part of the 20th century. 3. Spanish colonization came much later than the Spanish conquests in America (Mexico, Peru, etc.). Spanish missionaries like Bartolome dos Casas vigorously opposed the oppression and enslavement of native American Indian tribes. This position found support among the Popes who issued a number of Papal Bulls condemning slavery. In other words, Filipinos were not enslaved because the Church wouldn't allow it.

• Answer:

  Excellent question, and excellent theses. I can agree with any and all of the reasons you advanced. Of all three, I think the most logical, or the most I would like to believe, is the third. Unfortunately today, the un-enslaved Filipinos are transporting themselves to all four corners of the world to work as slaves. Not just to the Spaniards, but to all nationalities, everywhere. My heart breaks to say this, but c'est la vie.