Tráfico negreiro e escravidão no Brasil nas Atas da Câmara de 1694-1700 (Salvador, Bahia)

Abstract

The slave trade, the most valuable commodity for mercantile capitalism, in colonial período in Brazil, is analyzed as one of the most perverse chapters in the compulsory migration of millions of people from Africa to Brazil. The objective is to contribute to the knowledge of the slavery industry, focusing on a fragment of this process, seen as capable of deepening the intentionally erased memory and the lack of knowledge on the subject. The enslavement of black people in Brazil, for almost four centuries, is seen through the lens of the records contained in the Atas da Câmara, 1684-1700, from the city of Salvador, which housed the main slave market at the time. The achieved results indicate the persistence of social inequalities and the concentration of profits in the hands of a ruling elite, to the detriment of the Brazilian popular classes.