The Merchant Community of Benguela and the South Atlantic, 1750–1820

Benguela was the third largest slaving port in the coast of Africa. From there, more than 750,000 Africans were exported to the Americas. The size and importance of the trade attracted merchants from interior of the Benguela as well as from other Atlantic ports, such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Lisbon, Luanda, Cacheu and Ouidah. This study explores the presence of merchants from different backgrounds in Benguela, particularly those from other African ports. Through the analysis of nominal lists, official petitions, judicial cases, as well as baptism, marriage and burial records, I will focus on their strategies in Benguela to guarantee participation in the trade. Many of them married wealthy local women, daughters of the commercial and political elites. Through the marriage associations, I will examine the association of foreign and local traders, among other intricacies of the Atlantic merchant community of Benguela. This study contributes to our understanding of the formation of the South Atlantic complex and emphasizes the bilateral connections, rather than the triangular trade complex that characterizes the North Atlantic world. The center of my attention lies on the role of African traders in the shaping of the networks and in the transportation of imported goods and slaves from markets in the interior to the coastal ports.