Atlantic slave trade in the Pernambuco coast between 1831 and 1855

slave dealers, vessels and landing harbors

Abstract

The 19th century, Pernambuco was the third largest slaves trade plaza in Brazil. Throughout this period, more than a million slaves landed in the province. However, in the year 1831, the slave trade became illegal after passage of the anti-trafficking law in November of the same year. The Pernambuco dealers got together and managed to keep the business, forming slave trading companies, and many of these traffickers accumulated fortune from the traffic. This article will also study the main characters of this trade. Traffickers such as Gabriel José Antônio, Ângelo Francisco Carneiro, Elias Baptista da Silva, José Ramos de Oliveira will be prominent, as will other small merchants and captains of the slave ships.