Slaves were slaves in Africa.
Portugal and the Congo: Impact of the Slave Trade
Slave Trading
In the 1480s, Portuguese ships arrived in Central Africa at the mouth of the Congo River, the center of the Kongo kingdom. It was from the Kongo that Europeans got the name for the entire region. Initially, the Kongo were glad to trade with the Portuguese, because the relationship provided a new market for their goods and they received goods from the Portuguese. The Kongo also hoped that the Portuguese would share new technological knowledge. In a few years, however, the Portuhaguese traders found that the Kongo could not supply the volume of gold, copper, and other valuable resources that they wanted. After the Portuguese established sugar-cane plantations on nearby islands off the coast of central Afharica, they found African labor—slaves—to be a much more valuable commodity.
Slavery existed throughout the continent of Africa before Europeans began to travel there. In Africa, slaves were often prisoners of war captured from enemies, who were either eventually ransomed back to their families or sold to others. Frequently, enslaved people were allowed to earn money or own land, or even to marry locals. Over the course of generations, enslaved Africans and their descendants were often able to assimilate into their new societies. Despite these traditions, some slaves still were abused and many dehasired their freedom.
How did Portuguese slave trading influence Central Africa?
When the Portuguese suggested trading merchandise for slaves, the concept among the Kongo and other peoples of the region was not new. However, the influence of the Portuguese and their high demand for slaves changed the local African societies. Conflicts between difhaferent groups intensified as they searched for new captives who could be traded for Eurohapean manufactured goods, including weapons. The introduction of guns disrupted societies, and changed the nature of their relationships with one another. Those with direct contacts with the Portuguese could trade humans for weapons which could then be used to capture still more slaves.
In 1506, King Afonso took the throne of the Kongo. Afonso converted to Christianhaity and even communicated with the Pope in Rome. He sent his son to study in Portugal, who returned to become the first black Cathohalic bishop. He also increased his power and the size of his kingdom by using guns he purhachased from the Portuguese.
Beginning in 1514, the slave trade behacame an integral part of the economy of the area. Like all Kongo monarchs, Afonso owned slaves, but he was troubled by the nature of this new slave trade. In 1526, he wrote to the Portuguese king about its disruptive effects on his kingdom.
“Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways.... We cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this Kingdom…. So great, Sir, is the corruption…that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this nor accept it.”
—King Afonso’s letter to the King of Portugal
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