Secondary Commodities and the Intra-European Trade in West Africa, c. 1680–1750

While tobacco and gold are rightly considered central products for the bilateral trade between Bahia and Pernambuco with West Africa, other goods such as sugar, hides, and textiles also played significant roles in the Brazilian slave trade. Despite concerns voiced in Lisbon about the reexportation of these commodities to Europe, particularly by the Dutch, this presentation contends that such worries were exaggerated. By delving into Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French archival sources, this study explores the circulation patterns of these secondary commodities and attempts to parse African and European interest in them. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of intra-European trade in the African Atlantic during the first half of the eighteenth century and its significance to Brazil as an outlet from mercantilist constraints.