Why did relatively few enslaved Africans come to colonial Chile?

Relatively few enslaved Africans were brought to colonial Chile primarily due to the colony's poverty and lack of mineral wealth. Unlike other regions of the Spanish Empire that relied heavily on enslaved labor for large-scale mining or plantation economies, Chile offered limited precious metals, leading settlers to focus on small-scale, local agricultural production.12

Because the colony was considered a "deficit area" that required an annual subsidy from the Spanish crown to maintain its administration and military presence, it remained economically unattractive to many Spaniards. This general lack of wealth meant that the colony could not support a large population of enslaved people. Consequently, there were never more than a few thousand enslaved Black people in colonial Chile, and settlers often had to perform agricultural labor themselves.12