Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet Reséndez shows it was practiced for centuries as an open secret: there was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, forced to work in the silver mines, or made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos. New evidence sheds light too on Indian enslavement of other Indians as Reséndez reveals nothing less than a key missing piece of American history.
Caribbean debacle -- Good intentions -- The trafficker -- The pull of silver -- The Spanish campaign -- The greatest insurrection against the other slavery -- Powerful nomads -- Missions, presidios, and slaves -- Contractions and expansions -- Americans and the other slavery -- A new era of Indian bondage -- The other slavery and the other emancipation -- Epilogue.