BEYOND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC: INSTITUTIONAL AND FINANCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF RIO DE JANEIRO’S SLAVE TRADE AT THE TURN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Abstract

This paper analyzes the institutional and financial foundations of Rio de Janeiro’s slave trade at the turn of the nineteenth century. It focuses particularly on issues related to risk-taking and capital investment which supported the trade. This is a perspective that has barely been used in researches about the business of slave trade. The paper focuses essentially on mercantile institutions in which Asia’s textiles were put into the slave trade. Specifically, it raises some questions on interpretative problems of the bipolar model, and it also draws the attention to the need to reassess the model according to which prevailed a high concentration in the property of ships that circulated between the port and the Africas during the period. However, contemporary sources usually speak about consignments but not about property.

Keywords
Rio de Janeiro; slave trade; mercantile institutions; Atlantic history; traders