Between law and practice

slave trade and sovereignty of the Iberian states in the colonial Rio da Prata

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to address the actions of the Portuguese crown for containment of illegal trade in the River Plate during the second half of the XVIIIth century, particularly with regard to the transfer of African hand work. At the same time, show the occurrence of practices involving both rivers, seas and lands for the occurrence of the said trade, in spite of all the treatises for the official ban. Finally, we will stress the role of some ports in Brazil and how these were connected with a network of individuals who worked on behalf of trade in the Rio de la Plata and how the authorities sometimes forbidded, sometime allowed the illegalities in the region.