Aguida Gonçalves da Silva, une dona à Benguela à la fin du xviiie siècle

Abstract

This article discusses the role of women in the commercial elites of Benguela, in West Central Africa. Many of the local female traders married foreign merchants and colonial agents, which allowed them to act as cultural brokers, linking the Atlantic and inland elites. Looking at the case of an individual merchant, dona Aguida Gonçalves da Silva, this study stresses the role of local women as key agents in the organization of slave trade and the development of the port of Benguela. Dona Aguida owned a tavern, a house and a farm in the outskirts of Benguela. Under her protection lived many slaves and free dependents, besides a large number of relatives. Through a case study this article engages with other studies on the cultural effects of the transatlantic slave trade in African societies and the emergence of new groups, such as the donas, who acted as intermediaries between the Atlantic slavers and African political elites. Moreover, this study offers an insight in the lives of women in Benguela by the end of the eighteenth century.

Keywords

• Angola
• 18th century
• Benguela
• women
• slavery
• biography