Abstract

The Dominican historiography has insisted on reducing the rigour of slavery during the colonial period. There is persistence on that vision despite data showing that the enslaved worker always increased his or her presence in the colonial society. The bearers of this workforce were subjected to such an ostracism that makes it difficult to identify their leading role in the formation of the nation. However, insistence is made on the argument that there was benign slavery in the Spanish colony. The truth is that back then, the relations between slaves and their masters were specifically those of the slave system with all its severity. Any particularity was due to Spain’s difficulties to keep up the trafficking business, which is clearly seen in the comparison with other colonies of this same metropolis in the region. Data show that slave treatment depended strictly on the type of economy; that colonization instituted racial prejudice and the double submission to the black woman by the white man. There is advocacy in arousing interest in the study of slavery, where the contribution made by those Africans, with their sacrifice, is visible, and that the memory of Afro-descent be recovered, so that the multicultural and multiethnic society that is the Dominican Republic is recognized.