Crossroads: Slave Frontiers of Angola, c.1780-1867 Open Access
Domingues da Silva, Daniel Barros (2011)
Published
Abstract
Crossroads: Slave Frontiers of Angola, c.1780-1867
By Daniel Barros Domingues da Silva
The origins of slaves leaving Angola provide a way for
understanding who Africans regarded as eligible for enslavement and
sale across the Atlantic. Historians have long attributed the large
number of slaves leaving Angola in the nineteenth century to wars
waged by rulers living in the interior of West Central Africa,
especially from the Lunda Empire. However, archival records show
that slaves came from regions much closer to the coast than
previously thought. This dissertation traces the origins of slaves
leaving Angola based on lists of liberated Africans compiled in
Havana, Cuba and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1832 and 1849 in
addition to slave registers made in Angola by Portuguese colonial
officials between 1854 and 1856. It shows that the slaves embarked
belonged to 21 linguistic groups and 116 ethnicities spread
throughout the interior of West Central Africa. This dissertation
also examines the demographic profile of the slave population
leaving Angola, the patterns of consumption of Africans who
participated actively in the trade, and the stories of those who
survived the transatlantic passage and reported their experiences
of enslavement. It shows that African perceptions of gender and age
as well as taste for foreign goods played an important role in the
trade, affecting decisions about who was eligible for enslavement
and sale on the coast and who was not. Finally, this dissertation
demonstrates that prisoners of wars were not the only victims of
the trade. Slaves leaving Angola also included people convicted of
crimes, debts, and witchcraft, or simply kidnapped. These findings
have profound implications for the history of Angola and for
current knowledge about impact of the transatlantic slave trade on
Africa.
Crossroads: Slave Frontiers of Angola, c.1780-1867
By
Daniel Barros Domingues da Silva
B.A., Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2004
M.A., Emory University, 2009
Advisor: David Eltis, Ph.D.
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney
Graduate School of
Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in History
2011
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction - A Quest for Origins
1
Chapter One - Old Trade, New Age
The Transatlantic Slave Trade from Angola in the Century of
Abolition, 1781-
1867
14
Chapter Two - Merchants, Brokers and Traders
The Organization of the Slave Trade from Angola in the Nineteenth
Century
45
Chapter Three - Slaving Frontiers
The Origins of Slaves Leaving Angola in the Nineteenth
Century
90
Chapter Four - Of Men, Women and Children
A Demographic Profile of Slaves Leaving Angola in the Nineteenth
Century
117
Chapter Five - On Goods and People
African Patterns of Consumption in Angola in the Nineteenth
Century
146
Chapter Six - Embracing Dependants, Releasing Slaves
Experiences of Enslavement in Angola in the Nineteenth
Century
173
Conclusion - Redefining the Frontiers
205
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