“OLD” SLAVERY INTO ATLANTIC SLAVERY: CAPE VERDE ISLANDS, C. 1500–1879 By ...

318 Pages·2013·14.41 MB·English

by  Lumumba Shabaka

TRANSFORMATION OF “OLD” SLAVERY INTO ATLANTIC SLAVERY: CAPE
VERDE ISLANDS, C. 1500–1879

By

Lumumba Hamilcar Shabaka

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

History- Doctor of Philosophy
2013
ABSTRACT
TRANSFORMATION OF “OLD” SLAVERY INTO ATLANTIC SLAVERY: CAPE
VERDE ISLANDS, C. 1500–1879
By
Lumumba Hamilcar Shabaka
This dissertation explores how the Atlantic slave trade integrated the Cape Verde
archipelago into the cultural, economic, and political milieu of Upper Guinea Coast
between 1500 and 1879. The archipelago is about 300 miles off the coast of Senegal,
West Africa. The Portuguese colonized the “uninhabited” archipelago in 1460 and soon
began trading with the mainland for slaves and black African slaves became the majority,
resulting in the first racialized Atlantic slave society. Despite cultural changes, I argue
that cultural practices by the lower classes, both slaves and freed slaves, were
quintessentially “Guinean.” Regional fashion and dress developed between the
archipelago and mainland with adorning and social use of panu (cotton cloth). In
particular, I argue Afro-feminine aesthetics developed in the islands by freed black
women that had counterparts in the mainland, rather than mere creolization.
Moreover, the study explores the social instability in the islands that led to the
exile of liberated slaves, slaves, and the poor, the majority of whom were of African
descent as part of the Portuguese efforts to organize the Atlantic slave trade in the Upper
th
Guinea Coast. With the abolition of slavery in Cape Verde in the 19 century, Portugal
used freed slaves and the poor as foot soldiers and a labor force to consolidate
“Portuguese Guinea.” Many freed slaves resisted this mandatory service. The transition
to “legitimate trade” also sent “Cape Verdeans” merchants to the “Portuguese Guinea” to
pursue commercial activities, while maintaining commercial and family ties with the
archipelago, which reinforced cross-cultural exchange.
DEDICATION:
Pa juventudi di Kabuverdi, specialmenti kes diskonhecidu,
UNIDADI E LUTA, NHÔS ÓRA DJA TXIGA!

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, nothing in my life would be possible without the sacrifices of my loving and
supportive mother. I am eternally grateful for her selflessness in providing all that she did
despite our limited resources. Es trabadju é simbulu di nha luta, mison ki nha herói
Amílcar Cabral dexa pa nôs tudu.
To my wife Marie Alexandre-Shabaka, who, without her unfailing support, I
could not have finished this dissertation. To my beautiful and energetic children, Amara
and Amilcar, I am sorry that Papa did not always play with you when you wanted, but I
hope that this modest work will make you proud someday.
Also, I want to thank my committee members, Dr. Nwando Achebe, Dr. Peter
Beattie, and Dr. Folu Ogundimu. I am very grateful to Dr. Walter Hawthorne, my
advisor, for his staunch support in this long and arduous journey. Since the day I met him
at Ohio University, he has shown interest in my work and encouraged me to apply to
Michigan State University. I thank the History Department for the graduate assistantships
that made my graduate studies possible.
I am grateful to our Africanist bibliographers, Dr. Peter Limb and Dr. Joe Lauer,
who were always responsive to my requests. I also want to thank the staff at the Michigan
State University Library for their assistance in finding materials so desperately needed.
Many thanks for the financial support of the U.S. Department of Education with
the generous fellowship of the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad; as
well as the African Studies at Michigan State University award of Foreign Language
Areas Studies to study Mandinka; and the Center for Advanced Study of International
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Development at Michigan State University to study Portuguese during an intensive
summer program to hone my language skills. I also thank Dr. Jorge Sousa Brito, rector of
the Piaget University of Cape Verde, for writing me the letters of affiliation.
In Cape Verde, I want to thank all my family and friends, who supported me in so
many ways it would take another volume to name them all: my uncle Caetano da Graça
Cardoso, his wife Mafalda Cardoso, my cousin, Ornela Veronica Ferreira Cardoso,
Fatinha Cardoso, Soraia Cardoso, Daniel Cardoso, Silvana Semedo, Noel Carvalhal
Fernandes, Ludimilla Cardoso, Moises Carvalhal Fernandes, Maria Dosanjos Fernandes,
Joe Cardoso, Indira Tatiana Tavares, Flavio Delgado, Dr. José Carlos Gomes dos Anjos.
Tudu mosinhus e mosinhas di Varzea, specialmenti CV Wine. Nhôs tudu obrigadon pa
nhôs morabeza!
I also want to thank the staff at the Arquivo Histório Nacional de Cabo Verde,
especially the President, Sandra Mascarenhas, and the staff--- Sandra Helena Gomes
Rosa, Carla Gomes, Madalena M. Varela, Maria da Luz, Eugenia Miranda, António
Sanches, Maria Teixeira, Maria Odete Neves, Roberto Lopes, Vital de Pina, Samira Sá
Nogueira, Felisberta Landim, Maria José Almeida, Ana Mafalda Monteiro, José Maria
Almeida. Carla Gomes was extremely helpful with some of the paleography.
At the Biblioteca Nacional de Cabo Verde, I thank Joaquim Morais, the
president, and the staff, especially Sheila Antunes. Muitu brigadu!
To my in-laws, thank you for your support, especially Maryse Alexandre, Saber
Anosier, Suline Guerrier, Antoine Guerrier, Jean Alexandre, and his wife, Sheila
Alexandre.
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Of my professors, colleagues, and friends, I want to thank Dr. Bala Saho, and his
wife Binta Sanyang, Dr. Jill Kelley, Dr. Mathew Pettway, Dr. Peter K. Mendy, Dr.
Richard Lobban, Dr. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Dr. Jean G. Blaise, Dr. Pierre Orelus,
Salahudin Omowale Matteos, Professor Darius A. Burton, Dr. James Pritchett, Victor
Manuel Carvalho de Melo (“Toto”), and Dr. Solomon Addis Getahun for their support
and friendship. I salute Professor Ernest Wambia-dia-Wamba for being a deep source of
inspiration.
Many thanks to my entire family, especially my sisters in the states, Estela
Rodrigues, Benvinda Fernandes, Isolete Fernandes, Ester Fernandes, Raquel Rosario, and
to my cousins Ezekiel Vasconcelos, Danny Vasconcelos, Alcindo Vasconcelos. Special
gratitude is extended to Dr. Assan Sarr for reading two chapters, and providing very
critical feedback and encouragement. I also thank Dr. Mariana P. Candido for reading
and commenting on a chapter and her unsolicited show of support. Of course, all errors
are solely mine.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………...x
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………..xi
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….……....1
Historiography……………………………………………………………………….....6
Summary of Chapters…………………………………………………………………27

CHAPTER 1
COTTON AND DRESS IN UPPER GUNIEA COAST AND CAPE VERDE,
c.1500-c.1600………………………………………….………………………………..31
Islam and Changing African Aesthetics on the Upper Guinea Coast……………...41
Early Atlantic Slave Trade in the Upper Guinea Coast…………………………….46

CHAPTER 2
PANU: SLAVE TRADE, DRESS, AND FASHION IN CAPE VERDE,
c.1600-c.1800s………………………………………………………………………….75
Panu: Economic and Social Affects in Cape Verde…………………………………81
Female Dress and Fashion in Cape Verde Islands, c. 1647–c. 1721………………..93
Male Dress and Fashion in Cape Verde Islands, c. 1647–c. 1721…………………103
Women and Dress in Cape Verde during 1800s………………………...................111
CHAPTER 3
SOCIAL UNEASE IN A SLAVE SOCIETY: FLIGHT, ‘SOCIAL
BANDITRY’, AND RELIGIOUS HETERODOXY, c.1700-c.1800…………….......126
Rise of Brankus di Terra: Fear, “Race,” and Governance………………………...127
Popular Religion in Santiago Island………………………………………………..155
Precarious Control: Famine and Selling Free People……………………………..174
CHAPTER 4
ENDING SLAVERY IN CAPE VERDE: MANUMISSION, CRIME, AND
PUNISHMENT, c. 1856-c.1876 …...…………………………………………………184
Creation of the Junta………………………………………………………………...187
Manumission and Ambivalent Freedom……………………………………………192
Crime and Punishment: Slaves, Libertos, and (Poor) Free………………………..214

CHAPTER 5
KINSHIP, ABOLITION, COMMERCE AND COLONIZATION OF
PORTUGUESE GUNIEA, c.1830-1879………………………………………………228
State of Portuguese Guinea…………………………………………………………..232
Kinship and Connections between Cape Verdeans and Luso-Africans/Africans...236
Portuguese Hunger for Land and Access to Rivers………………………………...253
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CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………281

APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………..285
Glossary….…………………………………………………………………………….286

BIBLIOGRAPHY…..…………………………………………………………………..289

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Slave Children Recorded in the County Administration of the
City of Praia, 1863, March 1-30, 1863………………………………………………..197

Table 2. Pedro Semedo Cardozo’s Slaves’ Background ……………………………204

Table 3. Francisco Alberto Azevedo’s Slaves………………………………………..212

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