47 CHAPTER 2 Te Early Iberian Slave Trade to the Spanish Caribbean, 1500–1580 Marc Eagle and David Wheat . \ The slave trade from Africa to Spanish America during the sixteenth century remains one of the least known branches of the transatlan- tic trade, despite an abundance of archival sources and a substantial, albeit fragmented, historiography dating back to the works of José Antonio Saco and Georges Scelle.1 Much of this work relies on peninsular sources; in par- ticular, many scholars have analyzed the rents obtained by the Spanish Crown from royal grants or “licenses” authorizing individuals to acquire and transport slaves to Spanish America.2 Another productive approach focuses on taxes paid by voyage backers as recorded by the Casa de la Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville.3 Likewise, the registros (voyage registration pa- pers) and despachos (clearances for departure) created by House of Trade ofcials ofer extensive information on vessels authorized to transport cap- tives to the Americas, including their ostensible fnancial backers, crews, itineraries, and numbers of captives to be embarked.4 By incorporating ar- chival materials generated in Lisbon and Luso-African slaving hubs, other historians contextualize the trade to early Spanish America within a broader system spanning both Iberian empires.5 By themselves, however, documents recorded in Iberian and African ports rarely confrm whether planned voy- ages followed their intended routes or were completed.