455. EARLY SLAVERY IN PERU An extremely rare and earlymanuscript D.S. 2pp. legal folio, Arequipa, [Peru], Apr. 24, 1550 being one ofthe earliest known slave contracts executed in the Western Hemisphere. Thedocument, written in Spanish, documents the sale of "...A woman black slave,called Isabel with a daughter and a mulatilla [read mulatto], to the one I sellfree of mortgage and by the price of 350 pesos of gold that for the one purchasehas given him and paid and one occurs by contentment...". The woman and herchildren were sold by Alonso de Barrionuevo to Geronimo Navarro. An incrediblyearly document, executed only 58 years following the first voyage of ChristopherColumbus and only eight years following the establishment of the Viceroyalty ofPeru in 1542. The Spanish began importing slaves to South America in the late1520s to replace the rapidly disappearing native population. By the 1570s somany had been imported that Africans outnumbered their Spanish masters. Verylight toning at margins, a few stray 20th century pen marks, otherwise very goodto fine condition. $3,000 - 4,000