Paper short abstract:

This communication intends to discuss the scenario of transatlantic slave trade between city of Bahia and Slave Coast during the second half of the 18th century, after the Pombaline provision of 1756, which put an end to the monopoly of the merchants of Salvador on this trade.

Paper long abstract:

This communication intends to discuss the transatlantic slave trade between the city of Bahia and the Slave Coast during the second half of the 18th century, seeking to understand the unfolding of the measures taken by the government of d. Joseph and his minister, marquis of Pombal, about this trade. The provision, edited in 1756, by the administration of d. Joseph made free the slave trade between Bahia and Slave Coast, until then monopolized by a small group of business man based in the square of Bahia. This measure, as well as others promoted by Pombal, was linked to the restructuring actions of the Portuguese maritime empire. Against this background, businessmen from the city of Salvador devised strategies to try to reassert control over the Atlantic slave trade of Bahia. To this end, they acted especially, assuming, between the decades of 1760 and 1780, positions in the Inspection Committee, organ created by the Pombaline administration to regulate the slave trade and the export of sugar and smoke in the capitania of Bahia. The analysis of trades, reports and letters produced by the colonial bureaucracy, especially by the Inspection Committee, allows us to understand the disputes over control over the slave trade between Bahia and the Slave Coast and how the former business man acted in favor of their interests.