Trafficking black slaves in Brazil

As far as we know, there are millions of African corpses enslaved at the bottom of the oceans. The dispossession of these bodies has even changed the sharks' habit.

There were tens of thousands of ships used for voyages during 350 years of slavery. The enslaved lived in inhumane conditions on these vessels and were “discarded” for the smallest reasons. They were thrown, with arms and legs tied, on the high seas.

The slave trade forced Africans to be enslaved in Brazil and, over 300 years of this practice, almost five million Africans disembarked here. Due to this mixture, the Brazilian people Blacks, whites and Indians were formed.

12 and a half million human beings left Africa, it is estimated that in the crossings, almost 2 million died. On average, 14 people were thrown overboard a day, dead or alive. According to testimonies, this even changed the behavior of shoals of sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, which began to follow slave ships in search of food.

“This odious activity was carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries. African prisoners were bought in coastal regions of Africa to be enslaved on the European continent and on the American continent. This forced migration resulted in the arrival of millions of African captives in Brazil.

"The development of the slave trade in Brazil is associated with the installation of sugar production that took place in the country, in the mid-15th century. The overseas traffic of Africans, with the aim of enslaving them, is directly related to the permanent need for workers on the plantations and also with the decrease in the population of indigenous people."

"Since the beginning of the colonization of Brazil by Portugal, the indigenous people suffered from enslavement, but a series of factors made the indigenous population begin to decrease. First, the violence of this enslavement, but the most relevant factor in the decrease of the indigenous population was the biological question, since the indigenous people had no biological defense against diseases such as smallpox."

"Summary"

The slave trade began in Brazil due to the continuous need for slave labor and was a direct result of the decrease in the number of indigenous slaves, as it was very difficult to enslave Brazilian Indians, in addition to getting sick easily due to the low immunity they had.

"The European logic of work to produce surplus and wealth was not part of the indigenous way of life and this made Europeans pejoratively rate indigenous people as "inappropriate" for work. The constant flight of indigenous people, who knew the land very well, also was another relevant factor."

The slave trade was an extremely profitable activity and served the interests of the Crown, Portuguese and settlers at the time.

The Portuguese presence on the African continent occurred through trading posts, which allowed them to create commercial ties with different African kingdoms, hence the ease of buying slaves, the African himself sold his people to these traders in exchange for money or something that favored him.

Africans obtained for slavery were either resold prisoners of war or captured in ambushes set up by traffickers.

The main Portuguese factory installed in Africa was Luanda, and Angolan slaves corresponded to 75% of the total landed in Brazil.

The Africans came in the tumbeiros imprisoned in terrible conditions in the holds of the ships in trips that extended from 1 to 2 months, a real suffering and deaths in most of these long trips.

Brazil received approximately 4.8 million Africans enslaved during three centuries of trafficking. Trafficking in Brazil was only prohibited by English pressure that resulted in the passage of the Eusébio de Queirós Law in 1850."

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Research Source: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/trafico-negreiro.htm

Translation and adaptation: Georgenes Mederos