THE RÍO DE LA PLATA, BRAZIL, AND ANGOLA, 1580-1680 By Kara Danielle Schu

190 Pages·2016·2.13 MB·English

by  Schultz, Kara Danielle

‘THE KINGDOM OF ANGOLA IS NOT VERY FAR FROM HERE’:
THE RÍO DE LA PLATA, BRAZIL, AND ANGOLA,
1580-1680

By

Kara Danielle Schultz

Dissertation
Submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Vanderbilt University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in

History
December 2016
Nashville, Tennessee

Approved:

Jane G. Landers, Ph.D.

Mariana P. Candido, Ph.D.

Celso T. Castilho, Ph.D.

Joseph C. Miller, Ph.D.

Catherine A. Molineux, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2016 by Kara Danielle Schultz
All Rights Reserved
For my parents
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My greatest intellectual debts are to my dissertation committee. Celso Castilho introduced
me to the work of Luiz Felipe de Alencastro and encouraged my interests in the early South
Atlantic. Mariana Candido has supported my research from its very early stages, beginning with
my first research trip to Lisbon in 2012, and has sharpened my knowledge of West Central Africa.
Catherine Molineux engaged my interest in comparative histories of the Atlantic world. Joe Miller
joined my dissertation committee in the final months, but he has in many ways been a part of this
project from its inception. I am appreciative of his editorial suggestions and feel very fortunate
that a stint in Charlottesville in the spring of 2013 allowed me to audit his graduate seminar in
Modern African History. My advisor, Jane Landers, introduced me to the history of the Atlantic
World and taught me sixteenth and seventeenth-century Spanish paleography during my first
semester in graduate school. Her scholarship, dedication, and collegiality have shaped my graduate
experience in many ways (beginning with my decision to study the 17th-century Atlantic world)
and opened up a number of opportunities I never thought possible.
My colleagues at Vanderbilt have enriched my time in Nashville. Marshall Eakin provided
valuable mentorship and professional advice. Frank Robinson and Eddie Wright-Rios shared their
expertise in Latin American history. Courtney Campbell was the first to welcome me as a Latin
Americanist when I decided to make the switch from 20th-century U.S. history; she remains a
trusted source of advice and a close friend. David Wheat introduced me to Escribanía records
during my first trip to the AGI in 2013; he has read and commented on various drafts of my work;
shared bibliography and source materials; and answered many questions about the early Iberian
Atlantic via e-mail and over coffee in Seville. Paula Covington kept my interests in the Río de la
Plata in mind as she traveled the globe on book-buying trips; her research methodology seminar
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remains one of the more useful courses I have ever taken. As DGS(es), Michael Bess, Katherine
Crawford, and Sarah Igo allowed several semesters of service-free funding so that I could research
and write my dissertation, for which I am tremendously grateful. Heidi Welch, Christen Harper,
and Susan Hilderbrand have helped me navigate the bureaucracy of graduate school and answered
my many questions. Fellow graduate students (some of whom are now Ph.D.s) have provided
support and encouragement throughout my time here. Fernanda Bretones Lane, Jonathan
Dusenberry, Daniel Genkins, Lance Ingwersen, Nicolette Kostiw, Zoe LeBlanc, Abraham Liddell,
Sonja Loomis, Tiago Maranhão, Alexandre Pelegrino, Max Pendergraph, Mario Rewers, Angela
Sutton, and J’Nese Williams deserve special mention for cheering me on during the final stages of
dissertation writing. Kelsey Hatton was my first friend in Nashville; she has been a fantastic
roommate and source of encouragement since 2009.
Several generous funding sources facilitated multi-country research. A Summer
Research Award in 2012 funded my first trip to Lisbon archives, while a Dissertation Enhancement
Grant from the Graduate School funded travel to Luanda and Benguela in 2012. A University
Fellowship allowed me to spend nearly a year in Seville in 2013-2014, while a second Summer
Research Award in 2014 financed my first trip to Buenos Aires. A Fulbright-Hays Doctoral
Dissertation Research Abroad award in 2015 enabled me to return to Argentina, Brazil, Portugal,
and Spain to conduct an additional full year of research. To each of these institutions, I offer my
sincerest thanks.
A number of scholars, both in the U.S. and in each of the countries I visited, facilitated
archival introductions; shared documents and bibliographic suggestions; offered feedback on parts
of this dissertation at conferences and workshops; and shared tapas: Luís Frederico Dias Antunes,
Alex Borucki, Arne Bialuschewski, Lolita Gútierrez Brockington, Sherwin Bryant, Marcos
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Carrizo, José Curto, Daniel Domingues, Marc Eagle, Jeff Erbig, Roquinaldo Ferreira, David
Freeman, Lea Geler, Pablo Gómez, Toby Green, Mary Hicks, Sandra Olivera Guidobono, Kris
Lane, Paul Lovejoy, António de Almeida Mendes, Amélia Polónia, Fabrício Prado, Miguel Ángel
Rosal, Tatiana Seijas, Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, Pablo Sierra Silva, Mariza de Carvalho Soares,
Susan Socolow, and Renée Souloudre-La France.
My parents, Frank and Sandy, have supported me in more ways than I can name. They
have modeled persistence and hard work; my mother, in particular, has encouraged my love of
history and the study of languages. My sister, Kristen, offered her couch and enthusiasm on too
many occasions to name. My partner, Francismar Alex Lopes de Carvalho, has seen me through
the ups and downs of dissertating, even from Rio de Janeiro, and has been my companion on
adventures around the globe. I look forward to dias de diversão to come.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………….x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………………........xi
INTRODUCTION...................................................... ....................................................................1
Chapter

I. RIVER OF SILVER, RIVER OF PORTUGUESE: IBERIAN NETWORKS OF
FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, AND FINANCE..............................................................................14

An Atlantic Port in “Spanish” South America ..........................................................................16
Slaving and Settling...................................................................................................................23
Necessary to the Republic .........................................................................................................32
Iberian Networks in the South Atlantic .....................................................................................35
The End of the “Iberian Union”? .............................................................................................40
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................48

II. THE MUDDLE IN THE MIDDLE PASSAGE:
THE SOUTH ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, C. 1580-1680 ....................................................50

Situating the South Atlantic within Slave Trade Studies ..........................................................53
Sources for the Study of the South Atlantic Trade ....................................................................58
The Voyage Data .......................................................................................................................62
Sources of Slaves.......................................................................................................................66
Further Muddle: Transatlantic and Intra-American Slave Voyages
in the Early Modern Atlantic World ..........................................................................................73
Children in the Early Atlantic Slave Trade ...............................................................................85
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................91

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III. FROM PORT TO POTOSÍ: SLAVE ROUTES OF THE
SOUTH AMERICAN INTERIOR ..........................................................................................93

Marketing Captives in Buenos Aires ......................................................................................97
Outfitting Caravans ...............................................................................................................108
Slave Sales in the Gateway to Peru .......................................................................................120
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................126

IV. AFRICAN SPACES IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC ............................................................128

“Rural” Spaces ......................................................................................................................130
Sacred Spaces .......................................................................................................................140
Maritime Spaces ...................................................................................................................142
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................146

EPILOGUE ..................................................................................................................................148

Appendix

A. Slave arrivals in the port of Buenos Aires, 1586-1680,
by vessel’s first known port/region of departure and quinquinnium ...........................................150

B. Intra-American Traffic to Buenos Aires, 1586-1680,
by quinquinnium and number of captives disembarked ..............................................................151

C. Slave Sales in Córdoba by Year, 1590-1650...........................................................................154

D. Captives in transit to Potosí apprehended on the chácara of Alonso de Tovar, outside of
Jujuy, and in the rancho of property owned by Lopez de Vergara, 19 November 1619……….156

E. Captives on the pingue El Naranjo………………………………………………………......158

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................160

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
1.1. Population estimates of select Peruvian and Platine cities in the seventeenth century ..........25
2.1. First known region of embarkation of 41, 023 captives
landed in Buenos Aires, 1586-1680 ........................................................................................63

2.2. Brazilian stopovers of 22 vessels that originated in Angola …………………………………75

2.3. Origin of 133 intra-American slaving vessels that arrived
in the port of Buenos Aires, 1586-1680 ...…………………………………………………...82

2.4. A selection of slave vessels arriving in the port of Buenos Aires with
significant numbers of child captives ...…………………………………………………….87

3.1. Captives manifested by local residents in the port of Buenos Aires, 1633 ...........................107
3.2. Ethnic Designations of 639 African and African-descended captives
sold in Córdoba, 1590-1650 …..............................................................................................126
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page
2.1. First known region of embarkation of 41,023 captives
landed in Buenos Aires, 1586-1680 ……………………………………………………...…63

2.2. Slave trade voyages to Buenos Aires, 1586-1680, by quinquennium ………………………65

2.3. Kasange war prisoners disembarked in Bahia, c. 1622 ..……………………………………86

3.1. 18th-century drawing of a balsa in Guayaquil, Ecuador,
similar to those used to navigate the Paraná River ………………………………………..112

3.2. Slave sales in Córdoba, 1590-1650, by gender and origin of captives ….…………………122

3.3. Origin of 1,027 captives sold in Córdoba, c. 1590-1650……………………………………125

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