One way we know that some people of African descent were not slaves in Spain's American colonies is because the Spanish had a caste system that included free Africans and former slaves," even thought this was not as divided as it sounds.
During the time of the colonies, Dutch traders brought African slaves taken from a Spanish ship to Jamestown; in North America, the Africans were also generally treated as indentured servants in the early colonial era-
The Dutch West India Company wanted to establish a colony in North America to trade good such as furs and spices. This was at a time where many European nations were "scrambling" for territory in the Americas.
