Continuities between the slave trade, “legitimate” commerce, and the Serviçal trade: a look at four families in Angola in the mid- to late nineteenth century

Using archival sources, baptismal records, obituaries, travellers' accounts, newspapers and Luanda's weekly gazette the Boletim Oficial do Governo Geral da Província de Angola, this paper explores the participation of Angola's slave-trading elite in "legitimate" commerce and the serviçal trade. Specifically, it focuses on the families of four prominent slave traders: Dona Ana Joaquina dos Santos Silva, José Maria Matoso de Andrade da Câmara, José Maria do Prado, and Francisco de Salles Ferreira. Using micro-history as a tool of analysis, this paper demonstrates that some elites and their families were able to use profits from the transatlantic slave trade to weather the transition to "legitimate" commerce and indentured labour. In turn, it challenges the "crisis of adaptation" theory and highlights the role that familial wealth from the transatlantic slave trade played in the later part of the nineteenth century.