Salvador da Bahia, 1650–1750: A Global Hub in the South Atlantic

Atlantic Studies have recently been challenged to try to understand the importance of the Atlantic in larger global contexts. For early-modern economic historians, this speaks to the need to describe the Atlantic in terms of ‘early-modern globalization’ or ‘proto-globalization.’  The South Atlantic or ‘South-Atlantic Complex’ may be used as a case study to examine the pros and cons of such an approach.  This paper examines the role of Salvador da Bahia, the South Atlantic’s premier port city, in circuits of global trade.  It asks the questions: What were the trajectories of economic development in Salvador over this hundred-year period in local, regional and global contexts? To what extent was its development tied to Indian Ocean trade, i.e., the larger global pattern, mediated by European shippers, but dominated by the exchange of metals mined in the Americas for Asian textiles and luxury commodities?  Based on an examination of port records for Salvador, as well as contemporary estimates of trade from a variety of archival sources, it will show how Salvador related to Brazilian, African, European and Asian markets, and trace changes over time. It suggests that although the Portuguese Crown made efforts to restrict shipping from other empires, Salvador maintained a key importance in the early-modern global economy.