Evaluate the importance of the asiento system in the establishment and expansion of slavery.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of the importance of the asiento system in the establishment and expansion of slavery. Knowledge applied may predate the timeframe but must be clearly linked to the issue raised in the question. Candidates may refer to the demand for African slaves to provide labour on the sugar and tobacco plantations and in the mines of colonial America that resulted from the high mortality rates of the indigenous population. The Spanish attempted to fill this need by assigning asientos (contracts) from 1517. Given the prohibition of direct Spanish trade with Africa, Spain sold contracts to both individuals and companies from Portugal, Britain, Holland, Germany and France. After the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Britain acquired the asiento (and sold it to the British South Sea Company). A variety of factors, including the fact that the asiento accounted for a rather small portion of the slave trade, may be referenced to contextualize importance.

The question required candidates to make an appraisal of the importance of the asiento system in the establishment and expansion of slavery. Those candidates who chose to address the question most often provided a narrative of the history of slavery, concentrating on the terrible conditions experienced. There was little concrete knowledge demonstrated as to the importance of the asiento system.