repopulate the Island. These include establishing sugar cane, coffee, and tobacco production and importing Africans as slaves to work the fields and build military fortifications.

Most Africans brought to Puerto Rico are Yorubas and Igbo from Nigeria and Bantus from the Guineas. As early as 1514, Tainos and Africans join forces in revolt against the Spanish, and “cimarrones” or fugitive slaves flee to the mountains where they form free communities. The number of enslaved Africans increases from 1,500 in 1530 to 15,000 by 1555. But slavery is not abolished until 1873 when approximately thirty-two thousand slaves are freed.

Most Spanish conquistadores arrive on the Island without women and take possession of Taína and African woman