In the 15th century CE, all African nobles in Europe were fighting for survival. The Papacy in Rome had declared a Papal bull (Romanus pontifex) in 1455, written by Pope Nicholas V, which declared all blackamoors as heretics… and that they should be subjected to perpetual Slavery.
The enslavement or massacre of these Africans was allowed. The blackamoors lost all their territories in Europe and were left with only one stronghold in the south of Spain. On February 2, 1492, the blackamoors surrendered all their castles to the church. The truce was broken by Spain shortly after.
The massacre was great, so much so that the new Sultan of Constantinople, head of the Ottoman Empire, sent ships to collect and escort survivors to his lands.
Some of the survivors went back to Africa. A great number of the blackamoors were seized and they became the first group of people to be shipped to the Americas as ‘slave and property.’ This group of enslaved men and women had the letter ‘R’ emblazoned onto their flesh, on the forehead, or on the right shoulder, indicating that they were property of the Spanish royal court.
For example, when Alexander Pissaro, (who killed AttaHuaxca, emperor of the Inca people, in the 1520s and took over the Inca lands) was given permission by the Royal house of Castile to take over the land, several of these enslaved blackamoors were given to him as servants.
This was a tremendous fall. It was to affect millions of Africans who had always remained on their native lands, mostly without the slightest idea of what had happened in Europe.
