assiento, asiento

[Sp. asiento = a seal, a contract or lease; from Lat. a ideo = to sit near.] [ASSIDENT.] Commerce & History : A contract or convention between the King of Spain and other powers for furnishing slaves for the Spanish dominions in America. The contract of the A iento was made on March 26th, 1713. A iento Company : Any company entrusted with the function of fulfilling the A iento contract. The first one which agreed to undertake the degrading task was the French Guinea Company. In July, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht handed it over to Great Britain, and for twenty-six years the South Sea Company did something towards rendering the odious service required. But the breaking out of war in 1739 placed the A iento contract in abeyance. It was never revived, and ultimately Britain became the mortal foe, first of the slave-trade, and then of slavery itself.