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Forced labour and slavery |
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Slavery in Latin America was an economic and social institution that existed in Latin America before the colonial era until its legal abolition in the newly independent states during the 19th century.[1] However, it continued illegally in some regions into the 20th century.[2] Slavery in Latin America began in the pre-colonial period[3] when indigenous civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec, enslaved captives taken in war.[4] After the conquest of Latin America by the Spanish and Portuguese, of the nearly 12 million slaves that were shipped across the Atlantic, over 4 million enslaved Africans were brought to Latin America. Roughly 3.5 million of those slaves were brought to Brazil.[5]
After the gradual emancipation of most black slaves, slavery continued along the Pacific coast of South America throughout the 19th century. Peruvian slave traders kidnapped Polynesians, primarily from the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island, and forced them to perform physical labour in mines and the guano industry of Peru and Chile.[6]