Position on slavery
Isabella was not in favour of enslavement of the
American natives and established the royal position on how American indigenous should be treated. She followed the recent policies of the
Canaries, that had a small amount of native inhabitants, upon the "New World", stating that all peoples were under the subject of the Castilian Crown and could not be enslaved in most situations. By that time there were some circumstances in which a person could be enslaved, i.e. captured enemy fighters, by reducing them she moved the World a step forward that led to our modern rejection of any form of slavery.
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After an episode in which Columbus captured 1,200 men, Isabela ordered their return and the arrest of Columbus, who was insulted in the streets of
Granada. Isabela realized that she could not trust all the conquest and evangelization to take place through one man so she opened the range for other expeditions led by
Alonso de Hojeda,
Juan de la Cosa,
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón,
Diego de Lepe or
Pedro Alonso Niño.
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To prevent her efforts from being reversed in the future, she added this cause to her
last will, making sure her descendants follow this same policy:
"And do not give rise to or allow the Indians (American indigenes) to receive any wrong in their persons and property, but rather that they be treated well and fairly, and if they have received any wrong, remedy it.