In colonial Uruguay black slaves could supervise the work of white creoles and even hold the power to have their wages docked. To most historians this might seem puzzling and almost fictional in the context of the colonial Americas. This article makes sense of the puzzle by examining interactions between the economy and the environment on the Río de la Plata frontier. It argues that the natural world (soils, topography, climate, crops and animals) contributes to explain why this labour system existed, and also why it was efficient, contrary to the historiographical commonplace that enslaved workers would be unable to oversee free labourers effectively. Looking at the experience of both women and men through the lens of gender uncovers the parallels between the authority of these enslaved foremen over free male workers on the open range and their domestic authority over free women, whom they could marry. Their stories invite historians of other places and periods to foreground the environment in the set of structures that can either limit workers’ autonomy or give them strength.

中文翻译：

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1750-1810 年乌拉圭殖民地的环境、奴隶制和代理


在殖民时期的乌拉圭，黑人奴隶可以监督白人克里奥尔人的工作，甚至有权扣发他们的工资。对于大多数历史学家来说，这在美洲殖民地的背景下似乎令人费解，几乎是虚构的。本文通过研究拉普拉塔河边境经济与环境之间的相互作用来解开这个谜题。它认为，自然界（土壤、地形、气候、农作物和动物）有助于解释这种劳动制度存在的原因，以及为什么它是有效的，这与史学上普遍认为被奴役的工人无法有效地监督自由劳动者相反。通过性别的视角观察女性和男性的经历，揭示了这些被奴役的工头对露天自由男性工人的权威与他们对自由女性的家庭权威之间的相似之处，他们可以娶这些女性。他们的故事邀请其他地方和时期的历史学家在一系列结构中突出环境，这些结构要么限制工人的自主性，要么赋予他们力量。