Working on the seas: African sailors in the ships of the Grão Pará and Maranhão Commerce Company

Abstract

The paper deals with the African sailors and sailors who worked on the ships of the Grão Pará and Maranhão Commerce Company, in the voyages between the ports of North Africa and the ports of the North of Portuguese America. We use the documentation from the Ultramarino Historical Archive, in Lisbon, and the lists of cabin boys working for the Company. We analyzed the period between 1756, when the company's activities actually started, and 1779, the date of the last record of the consulted documentation. The focus on enslaved sailors collaborates to unravel aspects of work on ships during the crossing between Africa, Maranhão and Grão Pará.

Keywords

• marinheiros e marinheiras
• companhia de comércio do grão pará e maranhão
• escravidão e trabalho
• história atlântica