The Spaniards founded a mission to Christianize the natives; a friar there, Francisco Pareja, studied their language and left in his writings most of what we know about it. Under Zephaniah Kingsley, who farmed much of the island from 1814 to 1836, it was a slave training and trading center.
The Spaniards founded a mission to convert the native population; a friar named Francisco Pareja studied their language and documented most of what we know about it. Subsequently, under Zephaniah Kingsley's administration from 1814 to 1836, the island functioned as a center for training and trading enslaved individuals.