Amerindian and Black African slaves: a connected history. Discrimination theories and models in the Portuguese Empire (ca. 1450-1650)

Abstract

This article aims to move toward a connected history of the two more discriminated groups in the early modern Portuguese Empire, with special regard to Brazilian colonial society: the enslaved Amerindians and Black Africans. Entangled factors marked that history. Three of them are here considered: the judgment about working capacity, the influence of anti-Judaism and the debate on the eternal salvation of Amerindians and Black Africans.

Discrimination; social hierarchies; slavery