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AFRICANS AND LUSO-AFRICANS IN THE PORTUGUESE SLAVE TRADE ON THE UPPER GUINEA COAST IN THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

2012; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 53; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0021853712000011

1469-5138

Linda A. Newson,

History of Colonial Brazil

ABSTRACT Using previously unknown account books, found in archives in Peru, of three New Christian Portuguese slave traders on the Upper Guinea Coast, this article examines the extent and nature of African and Luso-African involvement in the Atlantic trade during the early seventeenth century. Beads, textiles, and wine that figured most prominently among Portuguese imports were traded predominantly by Luso-Africans. Meanwhile, slaves were delivered in small numbers by people from a diverse range of social backgrounds. This trade was not a simple exchange of imported goods for slaves, but was a complex one that built on pre-European patterns of exchange in locally-produced commodities.