Desperate Men, Questionable Acts: The Moral Dilemma of Italian Merchants in the Spanish Slave Trade
Modern research into the Italian business community in Renaissance Spain is driven by the desire to strengthen and publicize the Italian genesis of Spain's enterprise of the Americas. Scholarship resulting from this motive understandably focuses on positive facets of the Columbian discovery. Th...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
2002
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2002, Volume: 33, Issue: 2, Pages: 401-422 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Modern research into the Italian business community in Renaissance Spain is driven by the desire to strengthen and publicize the Italian genesis of Spain's enterprise of the Americas. Scholarship resulting from this motive understandably focuses on positive facets of the Columbian discovery. The Italians are painted not only as financially more astute but also morally superior to their Spanish associates; their involvement in the enslavement of American Indians is not mentioned. By looking at Christopher Columbus, enslaver of Indians, in the historical context of Spain during the reign of Fernando and Isabel, a moral dilemma becomes clear: Italian merchants in Spain operated in a rapidly changing moral climate that by 1500 criminalized their slaving activities in the Canaries and in the Americas. Columbus and his Italian partners found themselves caught between their need for profits and the new royal prohibition against enslavement of the American Indians. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/4143914 |