Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Defining Jurisdictional Frameworks for Maritime and Coastal Activities: The Example of the Atlantic Ports of the Kingdom of France in the Second Half of the Middle Ages
- 2 Basque Stevedoring and Cargo Handling Infrastructures (14th–16th Centuries)
- 3 Port Structures and Cargo Handling in Asturias and Galicia (13th–16th Centuries)
- 4 Slave Trade and Northern Portuguese Seaport Operations in the Sixteenth Century
- 5 Transport and Shipping in the Portuguese Northern Border in the Sixteenth Century
- 6 Anchorages, Infrastructures and Stevedoring in Medieval Atlantic Andalusia
- 7 Ports and Port Labour in Tenerife during the Transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age
- Conclusions: The Port Phenomenon of Medieval Atlantic Europe
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index
4 - Slave Trade and Northern Portuguese Seaport Operations in the Sixteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Defining Jurisdictional Frameworks for Maritime and Coastal Activities: The Example of the Atlantic Ports of the Kingdom of France in the Second Half of the Middle Ages
- 2 Basque Stevedoring and Cargo Handling Infrastructures (14th–16th Centuries)
- 3 Port Structures and Cargo Handling in Asturias and Galicia (13th–16th Centuries)
- 4 Slave Trade and Northern Portuguese Seaport Operations in the Sixteenth Century
- 5 Transport and Shipping in the Portuguese Northern Border in the Sixteenth Century
- 6 Anchorages, Infrastructures and Stevedoring in Medieval Atlantic Andalusia
- 7 Ports and Port Labour in Tenerife during the Transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age
- Conclusions: The Port Phenomenon of Medieval Atlantic Europe
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index
Summary
ABSTRACT. This chapter aims to identify and analyse the logistics of slave trade from the northern Portuguese seaports in the early modern period. This is a generally unknown topic in Portuguese and European historiographies, which for a long time focused exclusively on the major ports such as Lisbon or Seville. However, when looking at the early modern port traffic on the northern Portuguese coast, the slave trade was one of the main ventures of commercial and mercantile agents and triggered new and potent port dynamics. Analysis of a set of ships chartered from Porto, Viana and Vila do Conde, and numerous mercantile contracts between merchants and shipowners – from the mid-sixteenth century onwards – allows us to identify the operative logistics and the participants in this complex process. From cargo handling to the fitting of the ships, and from mercantile societies to financial investments, we can uncover a complex and widely spread practice related to the slave trade in these Portuguese seaports, proving that the slave trade depended on many more agents and connections than those studied hitherto by historians.
On 8 February 1526, after a troubled six-month voyage, the ship Conceição arrived in São Tomé. On board, in deplorable conditions, it carried 466 slaves bought on behalf of the island's contractors in the Kingdom of Congo. En route, eighty-nine were buried at sea, victims of illness, hunger, accidents and the ultimate and desperate means to avoid captivity: suicide.
In a less dramatic tone, this chapter deals with the same topic: the Atlantic Slave Trade. I will analyse a slightly later chronology, the second half of the sixteenth century, and approach the subject from a different perspective: the ports of northern Portugal and their participation in this business, one of the most conspicuous in the history of the early modern era. The main objective is to identify, describe and analyse the slave-trade logistics mobilised by these ports.
This topic remains generally untapped in Portuguese and European historiography, which for a long time has concentrated exclusively on major ports such as Lisbon or Seville. However, when looking at port traffic of the early modern period on the northern coast of Portugal, the slave trade was one of the major business pursuits and became the driving force behind the vigorous new port dynamics.
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- Ports in the Medieval European AtlanticShipping, Transport and Labour, pp. 77 - 98Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021