São Tomé and the Slave Trade
Portuguese Slave Trading in the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Century
The island of São Tomé was discovered by the Portuguese in 1472 - part of the expanding European search for a route to the East, a source of suitable land to colonize for wheat, vine and sugar production, and access to the legendary gold mines of West Africa. In 1493 Avaro Caminha was granted the right to create a settlement on São Tomé (and begin plantations) by the Portuguese crown. In 1522, São Tomé came under direct Portuguese administration.
Initially settled by Portuguese overseers and convict laborers, São Tomé's climate proved unsuitable for European workers and an alternative workforce was needed. As the Portuguese extended their reach along the West African coast, they came into contact with Islamic slave traders who bought slaves in West African for their trans-Saharan market. Although the Portuguese at that time were predominantly interested in trading textiles, horses, tools, wine, and copper for gold, pepper, and ivory, a small but significant market developed for African slaves for São Tomé (as well as the other newly discovered islands along Africa's Atlantic coast: Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands).
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During the first 15 years of the sixteenth century, slave exports to these islands totaled around 2,500 a year. From 1516 to 1521 the number of slaves transported rose to around 5,400 per year. This wasn't, however, due to an increased demand for slaves on the various plantation islands - it was the result of a developing slave trade from the Kingdom of Kongo, further down the Atlantic coast, and the discovery that a profit could be made selling slaves to the Islamic traders along Africa's Gold Coast. São Tomé became a transit point for traders taking slaves from the Kongo for sale in the Gold Coast and to the other Portuguese plantation islands (a few hundred each year were even taken back to Portugal itself). Between 1510 and 1540, four to six slave ships continually transported slaves from São Tomé to the Gold Coast. The smaller caravels could carry 30 to 80 slaves; the larger vessels could carry between 100 to 120 slaves at a time.
The Portuguese had reached the Congo estuary in 1482. In 1489 the Kingdom of Kongo ruler, Manikongo (Nzinga Nkuma), formed a trading agreement with them, and missionaries and artisans were sent out from Portugal. These carpenters, masons, stock-breeders, etc., were heavily involved in the re-development of the Kongolese capital, previously known as Mbanza Kongo, which was now renamed São Salvador.
Manikongo was succeeded by his son Alfonso (Nzinga Mbemba), who ruled from 1506 to 1543. He modeled his court after that of Lisbon (creating Dukes, Marquises, and Counts, mostly from family members). Members of his royal court wore European dress. The Kongo court spent a considerable fortune importing fabric, wine, and luxury items, the money obtained from the sale of slaves and minerals. Slaves were obtained by Alfonso through border skirmishes with the Loango (to the north), Ndongo (to the south), and Mbangala (further inland), and through tribute collections. Although the Portuguese showed considerable interest in the Kongolese mining operations, Alfonso managed to maintain a monopoly on production.
Although the Portuguese tried to restrict the Kongo's access to other markets (the Gold Coast and even Europe itself) by refusing to sell him ships, the Kingdom of Kongo maintained a small maritime presence at the port of Mpinda. King Alfonso even 'owned' a couple of plantations on the island of São Tomé, operated by two members of the royal household.
Slave exports to the Americas began in the 1530s, and by 1550 the majority of the passing trade was destined for the Spanish Caribbean. The trans-Atlantic trade from São Tomé continued until the last quarter of the sixteenth century when it suddenly went into a rapid decline. By the end of the sixteenth century, except for slaves for the island's plantations, São Tomé was used only for ship repairs and provisions.
Three events had caused the downturn in São Tomé's prominence: the newly created sugar plantations in the Caribbean were much more productive, the Kingdom of Kongo was invaded twice (by the Tio in 1566-7, and by the Jaga in 1571-73) and had to be bailed out by the Portuguese military, and the Portuguese had come to far more beneficial terms with the Ndogo to the south. In 1576 the Portuguese shifted their attention to the newly formed post of St Paul de Luanda, and this became the primary Portuguese shipping port to the Americas.
In the mid-1800s, after a lull of two centuries, the island of São Tomé once again blossomed - sugar-cane was replaced by new crops of cocoa and coffee. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the abolitionist movement succeeded in halting the export of slaves to the Americas. Some European countries, however, successfully circumvented the legislation by 'hiring' contract laborers - the French and Portuguese were the worse offenders. The Portuguese called these laborers libertos, serviçaes, livres, or ingnéuous, and while the contracts technically ranged from five to seven years, in reality they were bought and sold, and the contracts lengthened without consent. The libertos were, effectively, slaves.
The British, who had exported by far the largest number of slaves in the previous century, expressed righteous indignation - but their bluster was not equaled by their ability to catch and prosecute the offenders. Only 10 contract laborers were allowed, by decree, to be transported at a time - the Portuguese regularly transported a hundred each trip. By the 1860s over 1,000 libertos a year were being carried to the islands of São Tomé and Principé. Very few of those transported ever returned to the mainland once their contracts had 'expired'.
Contrary to popular belief, the total number of slaves exported from São Tomé to the Caribbean in the mid-sixteenth century (when the trans-Atlantic trade operated on the island) is almost equal to the total number transported for sale along the Gold Coast in the beginning of the sixteenth century. If you take into account the libertos sent to work on the island in the nineteenth century, less than half the slaves shipped to São Tomé were actually sent on the trans-Atlantic route. The majority of Portuguese slaves shipped to the Americas went direct from continental Africa, and especially from their base at Luanda.
Main Sources:
• Transformations in Slavery by Paul E. Lovejoy, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-78430-1.
• Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century, UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, edited by J Ki-Zerbo and D T Niane, James Currey, 1997, ISBN 0-85255-094-4.
• Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. V, edited by B A Ogot, James Currey, 1999, ISBN 0-85255-095-2.
• The New Atlas of African History by G S P Freeman-Grenville, Simon and Schuster, 1991, ISBN 0-13-612151-9.
Related Resources
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• The Role of Islam in African Slavery
• Origins of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
