Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva
Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva (1788–1859), was a Euro-African Nhara slave trader, money lender, and planter in Angola.[1] She was the perhaps biggest slave trader in Angola, which traded with Brazil during the 1830s, and financed the expedition of Joaquim Rodrigues Graça.
Biography
Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva was a member of the privileged Afro-Portuguese class who had a leading position within the business community of Portuguese Luanda, where white Europeans consisted of a mere thousand people at the time.
She was one of the leading slave traders of the booming slave trade between Angola and the Empire of Brazil in the 1830s- and 40s. The slave trade was formally banned in 1836, but continued in practice in Angola, where the economy was dominated by it.
Ana dos Santos e Silva owned several plantations for sugar and coffee, and a three stories palace residence in Luanda, which later became a museum.
When Brazil banned slave trade in 1850 and the trade discontinued in practice, she had established herself as a successful banker, investor and financier of merchants, authorities and transport business.