Manoel Pinto da Fonseca (slave trader)
Manoel Pinto da Fonseca (10 October 1804 – 20 October 1855) was a 19th-century businessman described as "the most notorious slave dealer in all Brazil".[1] His business was a "highly organized mercantile house capable of operating on four continents" and may have had up to 50 employees.[2]
Manoel Pinto da Fonseca | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 10, 1804 Moure, Porto, Portugal |
| Died | October 20, 1855 Paris, France |
Biography
Da Fonseca was born in the Porto region of Portugal in 1804.[3] He entered the business around 1837 in company with his brothers.[4] According to a British report based on a declaration by Da Fonseca, his profits in 1844 were £150,000.[4] He trafficked enslaved people from Angola and the coast near the Congo River.[2] In 1844 or 1845, Da Fonseca bought the slaving brig Uncas from Cuban shippers who had in turn bought it from American slave trader William H. Williams of Washington, D.C.[5] Porpoise and Kentucky were also Da Fonseca's ships.[6]
Da Fonseca's major competitors in Brazil were José Bernardino de Sá and Tomás da Costa Ramos; all three hired U.S.-flagged ships and American captains and sailors during what was known as the "contraband era".[7]
Da Fonseca was deported to Portugal in 1851.[2] He died in Paris in 1855.[3]
References
- Hill, Lawrence F. (1931). "The Abolition of the African Slave Trade to Brazil". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 11 (2): 169–197. doi:10.2307/2506274. ISSN 0018-2168. JSTOR 2506274.
- Karasch, Mary (1967). The Brazilian Slavers and the Illegal Slave Trade 1836–1851 (PDF) (M.A. thesis). University of Wisconsin. pages 13 (deported), 27 ("highly organized")
- Mesquita, João Marcos (2022). ""COMERCIANTE PAR EXCELLENCE": O MERCADO ILEGAL DE ESCRAVOS DE MANOEL PINTO DA FONSECA". HISTÓRIAS DE ESCRAVIDÃO E PÓS-EMANCIPAÇÃO NO ATLÂNTICO (SÉCULOS XVIII AO XX) (in Brazilian Portuguese). pp. 123–141. ISBN 978-65-89503-41-5.
- Conrad, Robert (1 November 1969). "The Contraband Slave Trade to Brazil, 1831-1845". Hispanic American Historical Review. 49 (4): 617–638. doi:10.1215/00182168-49.4.617. ISSN 0018-2168.
- Rothman, Joshua D.; Skolnik, Benjamin (4 December 2021). "The Brig Named Uncas". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- Cummins, Sharon. "Mainers engaged in the slave trade in the 1800s". Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- Marques, Leonardo (November 2015). "The Contraband Slave Trade to Brazil and the Dynamics of US Participation, 1831–1856". Journal of Latin American Studies. 47 (4): 659–684. doi:10.1017/S0022216X15000929. ISSN 0022-216X. S2CID 143297376.
Further reading
- Ferreira, Roquinaldo (1996), "Chapter 6", Dos sertões ao Atlântico: tráfico ilegal de escravos e comércio lícito em Angola, 1830–1860 [From the Hinterlands to the Atlantic: Illegal Slave Trade and Legal Commerce in Angola, 1830–1860] (in Brazilian Portuguese), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
- Horne, Gerald (2007). "3. Buying and Kidnapping Africans". The Deepest South: The United States, Brazil, and the African Slave Trade. New York University Press. pp. 53–66. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814737286.003.0006. ISBN 978-0-8147-3728-6.
- Mesquita, João Marcos (2019). O comércio ilegal de escravos no Atlântico: A trajetória de Manoel Pinto da Fonseca, c.1831 - c.1850 (PDF) (Thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese).