After years residing in Seville, a freed black woman from Santo Domingo missed her city (1575)

After years residing in Seville, a freed black woman from Santo Domingo missed her city (1575)
A freed young Black woman from Santo Domingo residing in Seville in 1575 decided to return to the Americas
ESPAÑA. MINISTERIO DE CULTURA, Archivo General de Indias,
ES.41091.AGI/10.42.3.7//CONTRATACION,5222

TRANSCRIPTION

maria de cota de color + A las provinçias del peru/
negra por soltera [rubric] Muy Ill[u]s[tr]es s[eñor]es [en] xiiiio de diz[ienbr] de 1575 a[ñ]os /
[en] la nao m[aestr]e Laz[ar]o Gutierrez /
N[umer]o vi /
[rubric] [rubric] /
maria de Cota. de color morena digo q[ue] yo soy natural de la çibdad /
de santo domingo. y abra diez y ocho a[ñ]os poco mas o menos que /
yo bine a estas partes de [e]lla [sic] y agora me quiero bolber A /
la provincia de tierra firme y Peru y Porque yo soy /
soltera y libre de cautiverio y despues q[ue] vine a estas /
partes no. e sido. penitenitençiada [sic] por el santo. ofiçio de la /
ynquisision__ /
 
SuPico [sic] A v[uestra]s s[eñori]as que dando yo informacion de lo /
suso d[ic]ho me manden dar liçençia. para que yo pueda pa /
sar A las d[ic]has partes. q[ue] Para ello [rubric] /
 
[rubric] [Ber?]naldo de Paz [rubric] /
 
En Sevilla en la Casa de la Contr[ataçi]on /
de las Yndias A diez e seis dias del mes /
de n[ovienbr]e de mill e quy[nient]os e setenta e çinco /
años [an]te los señores juezes la [presento] la q[onteni]da  /
e luego los d[ic]hos s[e]ñores juezes mandaron /
q[ue] de ynforma[çi] on[rubric] /



ENGLISH TRANSLATION

maria de cota of Black color + To the Provinces of Peru
as single [rubric] Very Distinguished Gentlemen [on] xiiiith of December in the year 1575
[in] the ship master Laz[ar]o Gutierrez
N[umer]o vi /
[rubric] [rubric] /
Maria de Cota, of moreno color, I say that I am originally from the city of Santo Domingo. And it must be about eighteen years ago that I came to these lands, and now I want to return to the province of Tierra Firme and Peru and because I am single and free from captivity and, since I came to these lands, I have not been punished by the Holy Inquisition ___

I plead to your highnesses that after having provided testimonies of the aforementioned order should be given that I am granted a permit so I can transfer to the said lands, and to that end [rubric] [rubric] [Bernaldo?] de Paz [rubric]

In Seville at the Casa de la Contratación of the Indies on the sixteenth day of the month of November of the year fifteen seventy five it was presented before the honorable judges by the mentioned one / and then the said honorable judges ordered that she presents testimonies [rubric]



Partial view of Santo Domingo’s port area

Partial view of Santo Domingo’s port area

Commentary

There were occasionally some free or enslaved Blacks, Spanish subjects, who were able to travel between the metropolis and La Española during the second half of the sixteenth century,

On November 16th, 1575, in Seville, a freed Black woman from Santo Domingo named María de Cota requested a license to travel to Peru, the main gold-producing economic center of the empire, after spending 18 years in Seville serving a Spanish family that had returned to Seville from La Española. To support her request, María presented the required testimonies of acquaintances who confirmed her place of origin as well as her freed legal status and her condition of being an unmarried woman with no criminal history. The officials of the Casa de la Contrataciónin Seville issued María the license to travel roughly a month later, on December 13th, 1575. The documents indicate that the very next day María left Spain for Peru on board a ship.