Angola and the Seventeenth-Century South Atlantic Slave Trade

chapter 4 Angola and the Seventeenth-Century South Atlantic Slave Trade

Arlindo Manuel Caldeira

The field of Atlantic History has stimulated new scholarly work, but its impact has been mainly visible in the Anglo-Saxon world.1 Accordingly, most scholar- ship has focused on the North Atlantic, with relatively little attention being devoted until recently to the South. The last was mainly under Portuguese influence. There are exceptions to this pattern, however. John Thornton, author of Africa and the Africans in the making of the Atlantic World, a groundbreaking study within the Atlantic History paradigm, has either single-handedly or in collaboration with Linda Heywood re-shaped our understanding of the history of West-Central Africa and has discussed important elements in the cultural formation of South America.2 Similarly, Luiz Felipe de Alencastro’s book O trato dos viventes interlinks the different areas and cultures of the South Atlantic in order to explain the origins of Brazil.3 Also worth mentioning in this context are the publications of Marina de Mello e Souza and James H. Sweet, though, unlike Thornton and Heywood, their focus has been on more circumscribed cultural themes.4

1 Alison Games, “Atlantic History: Definitions, Challenges, and Opportunities,” American Historical Review 111: 3 (2006): 741–757; Bernard Bailyn, Atlantic History. Concepts and Contours (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2005); Douglas R. Egerton, et al, The Atlantic World (Wheeling, il: Harlan Davidson Inc., 2007); Silvia Marzagalli, “Sur les origines de l’ ‘Atlantic History’: Paradigme interprétatif de l’histoire des espaces atlantiques à l’époque moderne,” Dix-Huitième Siècle 33 (2001): 17–31. 2 John K. Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1650 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); idem, “Demography and history in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1550–1750,” Journal of African History 18:4 (1977): 507–530; idem, The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641–1718 (Madison, wi: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983); idem, Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500–1800 (London: University College of London, 1998); idem and Linda M. Heywood, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585–1660 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); Linda M. Heywood, ed., Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 3 Luiz Felipe de Alencastro, O trato dos viventes: Formação do Brasil no Atlântico Sul, séculos XVI e XVII (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2000). 4 Marina de Mello e Souza, Reis negros no Brasil escravista: história da festa de coroação de Rei Congo (Belo Horizonte: Editora ufmg, 2002); James H. Sweet. Recreating Africa: Culture,

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Although there is no lack of primary sources for the study of the seventeenth-century South Atlantic slave trade, there are few regular serial col- lections of data. This may explain the relatively small number of studies for this period in comparison with the eighteenth century and the absence of an overview of the seventeenth-century trade similar to Joseph Miller’s The Way of Death for eighteenth-century slavery.5 Despite focusing on the eighteenth century, Miller’s work has, nevertheless, aroused scholarly interest in Angolan history more generally in the English- speaking world as the research carried out by several scholars based in North America attests. Two excellent examples are José C. Curto, whose work exam- ines, among other things, the role of alcoholic beverages in the Angolan slave trade, and Roquinaldo Ferreira, whose doctoral dissertation examined the Angolan slave trade between 1650 and 1800, focussing on the influence of mili- tary campaigns and of effective control of territory over the trade itself, result- ing in the decentralization of slave exports from Luanda to Benguela.6 Also paramount to understand sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Angola is the work of Beatrix Heintze, whose contributions over twenty years can be found in a wide range of publications. In 1996, a first compilation of Heintze’s works was edited in Germany and ten years later, a revised and extended version was translated into Portuguese and published in Luanda.7 Both compilations are excellent reference books for everyone interested in Angolan history. Equally, for studying the links between Angola and Spanish America under Portuguese control of the Spanish asiento, the detailed studies of Germán Peralta Rivera and Enriqueta Vila Vilar are now seen as vital.8

Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1441–1770 (Chapel Hill, nc: University of North Carolina Press, 2003) [Trad. portuguesa: Recriar África: cultura, parentesco e religião no mundo afro-português 1441–1770 (Lisboa: Edições 70, 2007)]. 5 Joseph C. Miller, Way of Death. Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730–1830 (Madison, wi: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988). 6 José C. Curto, Álcool e Escravos. O comércio luso-brasileiro do álcool em Mpinda, Luanda e Benguela durante o tráfico atlântico de escravos (c.1480–1830) e o seu impacto nas sociedades da África Central Ocidental (Lisboa: Vulgata, 2002). [English edition: Enslaving spirits. The Portuguese-Brazilian Alcohol trade at Luanda and its hinterland, c. 1550–1830 (Leiden: Brill, 2005)]. Roquinaldo Amaral Ferreira, “Transforming Atlantic slaving: trade, warfare and terri- torial control in Angola, 1650–1800” (unpublised PhD Diss., University of California, 2003). 7 Beatrix Heintze, Studien zur Geschichte Angolas im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert. Ein Lesebuch (Köln: Köppe, 1996); idem, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII (Luanda: Kilombelombe, 2007). 8 Germán Peralta Rivera, El comercio negrero en América Latina (1595–1640) (Lima: Editorial Universitaria, 2005); Enriqueta Vila Vilar, Hispano-America y el comercio de esclavos. Los asientos portugueses (Sevilha: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1977).