Why did early spanish and portuguese settlers force african people to work as slaves in latin america?

the Spanish population at the time was much too small to carry out all the labour needed to assure the economic viability of the colonies. The first years of Spanish presence in the Americas were marked by an outbreak of a tropical epidemic flu; it decimated both the native and Spanish populations. In 1501 the first shipment of African-born slaves was sent to the West Indies. The Spaniards chiefly purchased the slaves from the Portuguese and English traders in Africa. They did not engage directly in the trade and overall imported fewer slaves to the New World than did the Portuguese, British or French.t he Spanish used enslaved Africans as workers to develop their agriculture and settlements. They also used them in defense of the colonies. Originally the Crown relied on private initiative and resources to protect colonial shipping and settlements. In some cases, colonists hired out their slaves or donated them for this purpose; in other cases, the Crown bought the slaves. Building forts and defense works relied on slave labor.