O envolvimento dos Estados Unidos no comércio transatlântico de escravos para o Brasil, 1840-1858

Abstract

Ships built in the United States played an important role in the transatlantic slave trade from Africa to Brazil. After the War of 1812 between the United States and England (1812-15), United States merchants and ship builders looked for new trading opportunities in an expanding Atlantic economy. One such opportunity was the transport of African slaves to work on agricultural estates in Brazil. During a peak in slave importations during the 1840s, United States ships transported thousands of African slaves to Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. United States consuls stationed in those two cities aided in efforts to suppress the slave traffic. Depositions by ship captains and crew members to U.S. consuls provide a rich source for analyzing the transatlantic slave trade to Brazil in the years between 1840 and 1858