Mina diaspora in the 19th century Recife

Abstract

There are two important questions raised by the historiography about the slave trade and African slavery in Pernambuco that recent studies have attempted to address. The first, a provocation made by David Eltis and Daniel Domingues da Silva (2008, p. 121-122), is that despite Pernambuco having been the third most important port for the disembarkation of slaves in Brazil – alongside Rio de Janeiro and Bahia –, studies on the slave trade to the captaincy/province are still scarce. Fortunately, in the last fifteen years this scenario has been changed by new research, enabling a clearer understanding of the slave trade. The second question concerns the African population in Pernambuco. On the one hand, it is no longer possible to speak of “slaves” and “Africans” in a generalizing way. However, on the other hand, most of the studies that have focused on studying the African diaspora and its impact on Pernambuco have been categorical about the existence of an “Angolan wave” – to use an expression by historian John Thornton (2010, p. 48). And, in fact, the presence of Africans of Angolan origin was significant, but not unique. Therefore, the merit of Valéria Costa’s research lies not only in emphasizing the social experiences of Africans in 19th century Recife, but also in pointing to the presence of people who came from the Costa da Mina.