Slavery in Portugal
Encyclopedia
Ancient era
Slavery was a major economic and social institution in Europe during the classical era. A great deal is known about the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Romans added Portugal to their empire (2nd century BC). It was the province of LusitaniaLusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
. The name of the future kingdom was derived from Portucale
Portucale
Portucale can mean different things:*Portus Cale, old Roman name of an ancient town and port in current day Portugal, in the area of today's Grande Porto...
, a Roman and Post-Roman settlement at the month of the Douro River. We know little specifically about slavery in Roman Portugal
Slavery in ancient Rome
The institution of slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the Roman economy. Besides manual labor on farms and in mines, slaves performed many domestic services and a variety of other tasks, such as accounting...
, however, there were several forms of slavery, including enslaved miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
s and domestic servants.
Visigothic and Suebi kingdoms
The Visigoths and the Sueves (Germanic tribes), in the 5th century AD, seized control of the Iberian peninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
as the Roman Empire fell. Portugal at the time did not exist as a separate kingdom but it was mostly just part of the Visigothic Iberian kingdom. The Visigothic ruling class lived apart and heavily taxed the native population. However, during this period, in all of Europe that was a gradual transition to feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
and serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
.
Islamic Iberia
After the Umayyad conquest of HispaniaUmayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
in the 8th century, the territory of both modern-day Portugal and Spain fell under Islamic control. The pattern of slavery and serfdom in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
differs from the rest of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
because of the Islamic conquest. Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
from North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
crossed the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
and defeated the Visigothic rulers of Iberia (8th century). They established Moorish kingdoms in Iberia including the area of modern Portugal. Classical-style slavery continued longer in southern Europe than in the north and trade between Christian Europe across the Mediterranean with Islamic North Africa meant that black African slaves appeared in Italy, Spain, Southern France, and Portugal. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest in Portugal and Spain changed this patttern. Trade ties between the Moorish kingdoms and the North Africam Moorish state meant that there was a greater flow of trade among those spaces than with Italy and southern France. In addition, the Moors reduced some Spaniards and Portuguese Christians to slavery. Another factor was that many Moors were to varying degrees of African extraction. Thus there was not a clear racial component to slavery in Iberia. While there were some African slaves, the Moors had many ethnic European slaves. Periodic Arab and Moorish raiding expeditions were sent from Islamic Iberia to ravage the remmaining Christian Iberian kingdoms, bringing back booty and slaves. In a raid against Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in 1189, for example, the Almohad
Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty , was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his...
caliph Yaqub al-Mansur took 3,000 female and child captives, while his governor of Córdoba, in a subsequent attack upon Silves
Silves
Silves is a town and a municipality in the Algarve, southern Portugal. The city has a population of 10,800 inhabitants and the municipality reaches 33,830 . The municipality of Silves is part of the district of Faro...
in 1191, took 3,000 Christian slaves. In addition, the Christian Iberians who lived within Arab and Moorish ruled territories, were subject to discriminatory laws and taxes, and were coerced into Islamic faith.
Reconquista
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
who converted to Christianity, known as Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
s, were enslaved by the Portuguese during the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
; 9.3% of slaves in southern Portugal were Moors Black slaves were treated better than Mouriscos. Many moors were enslaved in 16th century Portugal.
Age of Discovery
After the Reconquista period, black slaves began to outnumber Moors in importance and numbers in Portugal. During the Age of DiscoveryAge of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
, Portuguese exploration in Asia brought in Asian slaves as well. Many Chinese
Slavery in China
Slavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Never as absolute as its Muslim or European models, Chinese slavery still often viewed its objects as "half-man, half-thing"...
, Indian
Slavery in India
The history of slavery in India is complicated by the presence of factors which relate to the definition, ideological and religious perceptions, difficulties in obtaining and interpreting written sources, and perceptions of political impact of interpretations of written sources...
, Indonesian and Africa
Slavery in Africa
-Chattel slavery:Chattel slavery was the type of slavery practiced in the Americas during the time of the Atlantic slave trade.Slaves were used as workers for Americans.-Pawnship:...
n slaves were sold to Portugal.
Arabs also enslaved substantial numbers of Europeans. According to Robert Davis
Robert Davis
Robert Davis may refer to:* DJ Screw , rap DJ and inventor of "Screwed" music* Robert Davis , who was beaten by three police officers in New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina...
between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates, who were vassals of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries. These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages from Italy, Spain and Portugal. The impact of these attacks was devastating – Portugal and Spain lost many ships, and long stretches of the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. Pirate raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century. The coastal Europeans from Southern Europe
Southern Europe
The term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean "all countries in the south of Europe". However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical...
built fortifications and lived in fear of the razzias.
Battles between China and Portugal over Slave Raids
After the Portuguese bribed their way into obtaining a trade mission in NingboNingbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
and Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
, they inflicted savage behaviour against the Chinese, and raided the Chinese ports. In retaliation, in 1545 the entire Portuguese community of Ningbo were exterminated by Chinese forces. The Portuguese began trading in Ningbo around 1522. By 1542, the Portuguese had a sizable community in Ningbo (or, more likely, on nearby small islands). The Portuguese began trading in Ningbo around 1522. By 1542, the Portuguese had a sizable community in Ningbo (or, more likely, on nearby small islands). Portuguese activities from their Ningbo base included pillaging and attacking multiple Chinese port cities around Ningbo for plunder and spoil. They also enslaved people during their raids. The resulting complaints made it to the province's governor who commanded the settlement destroyed and the inhabitants wiped out. In 1542 the Portuguese settled here by permission and flourished, but their rapacity led to their expulsion in 1545, when a force of 60,000 Chinese troops descended on the community, 800 of the 1,200 Portuguese residents were massacred, and 25 Portuguese vessels and 42 junks were destroyed.
In 1564, Portugal commanded the trade of India, Japan, and China, though their pride was deeply shocked at the supreme indifference with which the Chinese treated them. Their atrocities at Ningpo and Macao, and their subsequent servility, had opened the eyes of the Celestials to their true character, and unfortunately for other European adventurers, they had come to the conclusion that all western nations were alike. The senate of Macao
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....
complained to the viceroy of Goa, of the contempt with which the Chinese authorities treated them, confessing however that, “it was owing more to the Portuguese themselves than to the Chinese.” The Chinese were obliged to restrict the commerce of Portugal to the port of Macao, in 1631.
Slaves in Macau
Most slaves in Macau were African slaves brought over by the Portuguese. The Portuguese also brought over Indian slaves.The first time an english person learned Chinese was from an African slave who managed to flee Macao to go into China.
During the 17th century some 5,000 slaves lived in Macao, in addition to 2,000 Portuguese and 20,000 Chinese. 25 Patacas was the cost of one Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
slave.
In the 1800s during the Qing dynasty, the British consul noticed that some Portuguese were buying adolescent children from 5 to 8 years old.
On June 24, 1622, the Dutch attacked Macau in the Battle of Macau
Battle of Macau
The Battle of Macau in 1622 was a conflict of the Dutch-Portuguese War fought in the Portuguese settlement of Macau, in southeastern China. The Portuguese, outnumbered and without adequate fortification, managed to repel the Dutch in a much-celebrated victory on June 24 after a three-day battle...
, expecting to turn it into a Dutch possession after its conquest. African slaves who fought for the Portuguese repulsed the Dutch attack, and the Dutch never tried to conquer Macau again. The majority of the defenders were Africans slaves, with only a few Portuguese soldiers and Priests. Captain Kornelis Reyerszoon was commander of the 800 Dutch strong invasion force.
The Dutch Governor Jan Coen said after the defeat that "The slaves of the Portuguese at Macao served them so well and faithfully, that it was they who defeated and drove away our people there last year", and "Our people saw very few Portuguese" during the battle.
Macao Coolie Slave trade
After British pressure to abolish slavery, replacement was needed for the African slaves. The Portuguese then turned MacauMacau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
into a coolie
Coolie
Historically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...
trading center, sending Chinese coolie laborers to the Americas in what was a de facto slave trade. Abuses were rife, and the British took note of it and tried to pressure Portugal into ending it.
Treatment
Whilst being shipped to Portugal, slaves were fastened and chained with manacles, padlockPadlock
Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorized use, and harm. They are designed to protect against some degree of forced and surreptitious entry.- History :...
s, and rings around the neck. Portugese owners could whip, chain, and pour burning Hot wax and fat onto the skin of their slaves, and punish their slaves in any way they wished as long as they did not die. The Portuguese also used Branding iron
Branding iron
A branding iron is a tool which uses the process of pressing a heated metal shape against an object or livestock with the intention of leaving a mark....
s to brand
Human branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...
their slaves to mark them as property.
Banning
Some voices against the slave trade were raised quite early on. Already in the first European book published in Europe, that by the Portuguese Gaspar da CruzGaspar da Cruz
Gaspar da Cruz was a Portuguese Dominican friar born in Évora, who traveled to Asia and wrote one of the first detailed European accounts about China.-Biography:Gaspar da Cruz was admitted to the Order of Preachers convent of Azeitão...
,
the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friar explained that any arguments by the slave traffickers that they "legally" purchased already-enslaved children were bogus.
In 1595 a law was passed banning the selling and buying of Chinese slaves.
Then on February 19, 1624, the King of Portugal forbade the enslavement of Chinese of either sex. The laws were not able to stop the trade, Chinese children (boys and girls) were enslaved in Portugal for 200 years up to the 1700s.
In the American colonies, Portugal halted the use of Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, and Indians to work as slaves for sugar plantations, reserving it exclusively for the Africans.
The abolition of all forms of slavery took place in 1761 in mainland Portugal and Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
. In the Portuguese African colonies slavery was outlawed in the first half of the 19th century after Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, which demanded most of the slaves traded
Slavery in Brazil
Slavery in Brazil shaped the country's social structure and ethnic landscape. During the colonial epoch and for over six decades after the 1822 independence, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining, cotton, and sugar cane production.Brazil obtained an estimated 35% of...
within the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
, became independent from Portugal in 1822.
See also
- Al-AndalusAl-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
- Arab slave tradeArab slave tradeThe Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...
- Atlantic slave tradeAtlantic slave tradeThe Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
- Barbary pirates
- Economic history of PortugalEconomic history of PortugalThe economic history of Portugal covers the development of the economy throughout the course of Portuguese history. It has its roots prior to nationality, when Roman occupation developed a thriving economy in Hispania, in the provinces of Lusitania and Gallaecia, as producers and exporters to the...
- Slavery in ancient RomeSlavery in ancient RomeThe institution of slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the Roman economy. Besides manual labor on farms and in mines, slaves performed many domestic services and a variety of other tasks, such as accounting...
- Slavery in AngolaSlavery in AngolaSlavery in Angola existed since early times. Several peoples and tribes from current-day Angola, like the Imbangala and the Mbundu, were active slave traders for centuries...
- Slavery in BrazilSlavery in BrazilSlavery in Brazil shaped the country's social structure and ethnic landscape. During the colonial epoch and for over six decades after the 1822 independence, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining, cotton, and sugar cane production.Brazil obtained an estimated 35% of...
- Slavery in ChinaSlavery in ChinaSlavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Never as absolute as its Muslim or European models, Chinese slavery still often viewed its objects as "half-man, half-thing"...
- Slavery in IndiaSlavery in IndiaThe history of slavery in India is complicated by the presence of factors which relate to the definition, ideological and religious perceptions, difficulties in obtaining and interpreting written sources, and perceptions of political impact of interpretations of written sources...