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Slavery in New Spain was based mainly on the importation of slaves from Africa to work in the colony in the enormous plantations, ranches or mining areas of the viceroyalty, since their physical consistency made them suitable for working in warm areas.
In 1517 Charles V established a system of concessions by which his subjects in the Americas could use slaves, thus starting the slave trade. When the Spanish settled in New Spain, they brought some African workers with them as slaves. For their part, the Dominican friars who arrived in America denounced the conditions of slavery for Native Americans. As did bishops of other orders, they opposed the unjust and illegal treatment before the audience of the Spanish king and in the Royal Commission afterwards.
A bull promulgated by Pope Urban VIII on 22 April 1639 prohibited slavery in the colonies of Spain and Portugal in America. The King of Spain Philip IV of Spain approved the prohibition against enslavement of indigenous peoples, but allowed it for Africans. Many slaves gained freedom by escaping and taking refuge in the mountains of Orizaba, Xalapa and Córdoba in the state of Veracruz, where they became known as Cimarrones, or maroons.