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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86330-8 - Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World: Angola and Brazil during the Era of the Slave Trade Roquinaldo Ferreira Frontmatter More information

Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World This book argues that Angola and Brazil were connected, not separated, by the Atlantic Ocean. Roquinaldo Ferreira focuses on the cultural, religious, and social impacts of the slave trade on Angola. Reconstructing biographies of Africans and merchants, he demonstrates how crosscultural trade, identity formation, religious ties, and resistance to slaving were central to the formation of the Atlantic world. By adding to our knowledge of the slaving process, the book powerfully illustrates how Atlantic slaving transformed key African institutions, such as local regimes of forced labor that predated and coexisted with Atlantic slaving, and made them fundamental features of the Atlantic world’s social fabric. Roquinaldo Ferreira is associate professor in the history department at the University of Virginia and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies.

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African Studies The African Studies Series, founded in 1968, is a prestigious series of monographs, general surveys, and textbooks on Africa covering history, political science, anthropology, economics, and ecological and environmental issues. The series seeks to publish work by senior scholars as well as the best new research. Editorial Board David Anderson, University of Oxford Catherine Boone, University of Texas at Austin Carolyn Brown, Rutgers University Christopher Clapham, University of Cambridge Michael Gomez, New York University Nancy J. Jacobs, Brown University Richard Roberts, Stanford University David Robinson, Michigan State University Leonardo A. Villalón, University of Florida A list of books in this series will be found at the end of this volume.


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Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World Angola and Brazil during the Era of the Slave Trade

Roquinaldo Ferreira University of Virginia


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cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521863308 © Roquinaldo Ferreira 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Ferreira, Roquinaldo Amaral Cross-cultural exchange in the Atlantic world : Angola and Brazil during the era of the slave trade / Roquinaldo Ferreira. p. cm. – (African studies ; 121) Includes index. ISBN 978-0-521-86330-8 (hardback) 1. Slave trade – Angola – History. 2. Slave trade – Brazil – History. 3. Angola – Relations – Brazil. 4. Brazil – Relations – Angola. I. Title. HT1419.A5F47 2012 306.362082–dc23 2012001482 ISBN 978-0-521-86330-8 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.


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Contents

page viii ix

List of Figures and Maps Acknowledgments 1. 2. 3. 4.

Introduction An Expedition to the Kingdom of Holo Can Vassals be Enslaved? Tribunal de Mucanos Slavery and Society

1 20 52 88 126

5. Religion and Culture 6. Echoes of Brazil Epilogue: Rebalancing Atlantic History

166 203 242

Index

249

vii


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Figures and Maps

Figures 1.1. Luanda in the Early Eighteenth Century 2.1. Quilengues in the Mid-Nineteenth Century 3.1. Luanda in 1755 4.1. Luanda in 1825 5.1. Benguela Bay in 1825 5.2. View of Casanje in the Nineteenth Century 6.1. View of the City of Benguela in the Nineteenth Century

page 27 74 92 129 171 196 205

Maps 1. Volume and Direction of the Transatlantic Slave Trade 2. Major Coastal Ports of the Slave Trade in Africa 3. The Interior of Angola 4. The Atlantic Basin

xii xiii 21 89

viii


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Acknowledgments

To conduct research for this book, I have crossed the Atlantic many times and owe a debt of gratitude to many people. First and foremost, fieldwork in Angola, a country struggling with the effects of a prolonged civil war during much of my archival research, would have proven impossible without the support of numerous Angolan institutions and individuals. This meant logistical assistance, significant help locating catalogued and uncatalogued archival sources, and many insights on framing my research. It is impossible to convey entirely my gratitude to the people of Angola. After spending two months in Luanda in early 1995, I conducted research there during the summers of 1998 and 1999. I returned to Luanda from September 2000 to April 2002 and visited again from December 2002 to August 2003. Since then I have traveled to Angola several times to present my work and conduct focused research (2006, 2007, and 2010). At the Arquivo Nacional de Angola (AHA), I wish to thank Domingos Mateus Neto, Fernando Miguel Gonçalo, Joana Bartolomeu Joaquim Candido, Elisa António Silva Júnior, Aurora Ferreira, Conceição Neto, and José Bernardino Sá. Without the diligent work of Mateus Neto, in particular, I would not have achieved my goals at the AHA. Special thanks are due to Rosa Cruz e Silva, then the director of the AHA and now the minister of culture of Angola. In Luanda, I would also like to thank staff members of the Biblioteca Municipal de Luanda and religious authorities who allowed me to conduct extensive research at the Arquivo do Bispado. I received significant support from the Brazilian Embassy, especially from Ambassador Alexandre Addor Neto. Américo Gonçalves and Hermínia Barbosa ix


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x

Acknowledgments

hosted me in their homes several times and helped me negotiate life in Luanda. In Benguela, where I conducted research in 2001 and 2002, I would like to thank the judicial authorities in the Tribunal da Comarca de Benguela, as well as the local office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). My research in Portugal was equally extensive and productive due to the support of several individuals and institutions. I lived in Lisbon during extended stays in 2000 and 2002. I also worked in Portuguese archives in 1995 and in the summers of 1998 and 1999, returning for further research in 2004, 2005, and 2006. During these stays, Luis Frederico Dias Antunes hosted me several times and gave me important advice about Portuguese archives. At the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU), I am extremely grateful to Jorge Fernandes Nascimento, Fernando José de Almeida, Mário Pires Miguel, Mário André Pires, and Octávio Félix Afonso. I am also indebted to staff members at the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, Arquivo Geral da Marinha, and Tribunal de Contas de Lisboa. The research for this book was supported by the following institutions: the UCLA history department, the UCLA International Studies and Overseas Program, the UCLA Latin American Center, the UCLA James Coleman African Studies Center, the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ), the Tinker Foundation, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal. The University of Virginia provided the funding that allowed me to undertake research trips to Portugal and Angola between 2005 and 2010. This book was largely conceptualized at Harvard University when I held residential fellowships at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. I also benefited from a residential fellowship at Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. I wrote the bulk of the book in France as a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in 2008. I am indebted to the following colleagues for their personal, intellectual, and professional support: Luiz Felipe de Alencastro, João Reis, Kenneth Maxwell, Joseph Miller, Jelmer Vos, Flávio Gomes, David Eltis, Mariza Soares, Claudrena Harold, Reginald Butler, Maria de Fátima Silva Gouvêa, Aline Helg, Vincent Brown, Gilson Reis, Scot French, Josemar Henrique de Melo, Edval de Souza Barros, Jane Landers, Rafael Chambouleyron, Mariana Candido, Lucilene Reginaldo, Helen Osório,


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Acknowledgments

xi

Daniel Domingues da Silva, and Marcelo Bittencourt. I am particularly grateful to Edward Alpers, who trained me as an Africanist at UCLA. I worked as a research assistant for the Transatlantic Slave Trade: An Enlarged Dataset, further developing my understanding of the Angolan slave trade within a comparative framework. The following scholars gave me commentaries and insights on sections or the entirety of the book: João Reis, Joseph Miller, Toby Green, Mary Hicks, Herbert Klein, Jessica Krug, Herman Bennett, Anne Daniels, James Sweet, and Walter Hawthorne. Susan Perdue and Barbara Nordin provided superb editorial assistance in Charlottesville. This work would not have been possible without the love and support of my wife, Julie Thompson, and our son, Alex Thompson Ferreira.


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1000

1500

2000

4000 km

2000 miles

3000

BAHIA

PERNAMBUCO

98,000

00

00 ,0 68 1,5

818,0

00

1,59

OCEAN

AT L A N T I C

ST. HELENA

00 1,209,000 9,0 1,99

5,695,000

5,0

Map 1. Volume and Direction of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Source: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/intro-maps.faces

RIO DE LA PLATA

SOUTHEAST BRAZIL

Rio de Janeiro

S OU TH AMERICA

AMAZONIA

SENEGAMBIA

AFRICA

Medi terranean Se a

SOUTHEAST AFRICA

543,000

Benguela

WEST CENTRAL AFRICA

Luanda

Cabinda

GOLD SIERRA COAST BIGHT LEONE OF BENIN WINDWARD 756,000 Freetown COAST BIGHT OF BIAFRA 0 389,00 337,000

104,000

0

500

1000

92, 0

Slaves recaptured and returned to Africa

51,

0

0

PACIFIC OCEAN

1,000,000 200,000

2 ,6

00 73,000 BRITISH GUIANA 294,000 31,000 DUTCH GUIANAS FRENCH GUIANA 0 , 00 44

00 27,0

5,000,000

SPANISH CARIBBEAN MAINLAND

OCEAN

AT L A N T I C

Lisbon

Se

Number of slaves

,0 22

1,020,000

779,000

0 00 8, 12

d

JAMAICA

00 CUBA

21 0,0 00

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Black Sea

Re

Volume and direction of the transatlantic slave trade from all African to all American regions

OCEAN

PACIFIC

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CHESAPEAKE

CAROLINAS/ GEORGIA

EUROPE

ASIA

AS CA R

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ALL EUROPE a

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INDIAN OCEAN

MA DA G

NORTHERN U.S.


a

xii

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EUROPE

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a

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a

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a

R

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e

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M e d i t e r r a n e a n

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Gamb ia

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SENEGAMBIA

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SIERRA LEONE WINDWARD COAST

BIGHT OF BENIN

.

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Co

ngo

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GOLD COAST

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BIGHT OF BIAFRA

WEST CENTRAL AFRICA

Luanda Benguela

Major coastal regions from which captives left Africa, all years Number of slaves 2,000,000

0

INDIAN OCEAN

1,000,000

500,000

0

5,000,000

SOUTHEAST AFRICA

dag

Kalahari Desert

Ma

OCEAN

asc

ar

AT L A N T I C

Cape of Good Hope 1000 500

2000 1000

3000 km 1500

2000 miles

Map 2. Major Coastal Ports of the Slave Trade in Africa. Source: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/intro-maps.faces

xiii


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