Papers by Gustavo A Lopes
Almanack, 2024
In the last four decades, regarding the historiography of the slave
trade carried out by the Port... more In the last four decades, regarding the historiography of the slave
trade carried out by the Portuguese between Brazil and the
Slave Coast (West Africa coast), the role of tobacco stood out
as the chief item of exchanging. A small number of researchers
have pointed out more recently that Brazilian gold was, at least,
as important as exchange currency in the relations of Portuguese
with European and African agents in procuring African
enslaved workers. This article contributes to this last current in
trying to demonstrate, based on Royal African Company trade
records in Uidá (Slave Coast), the role of Brazilian gold in the
trade relations involving Portuguese and British merchants,
which became quite intense in the earlier half of the eighteenth
century. It also argues that gold was a fundamental factor
for the success of Luso-Brazilian commerce in that region, also
pointing the trans-imperial character of the investments in this
branch of trade. At last, the article suggests one possible contribution
to assess the features of the trade relationship between
the involved agents.
Revista Ingesta, 2019
O tabaco esteve entre as commodities a ter rápida difusão global na Era Moderna, a partir das n... more O tabaco esteve entre as commodities a ter rápida difusão global na Era Moderna, a partir das navegações e interações dos europeus com os povos dos demais continentes conhecidos então. Nativo da América, onde era consumido pelos povos originários de várias partes do continente, cerca de um século depois da chegada de Colombo ao Novo Mundo, o tabaco já era conhecido em várias partes da Europa, África, Oriente Médio e Leste Asiático. Neste périplo global, a erva passou de elemento ritualístico a commodity: vendido, trocado, taxado e produzido nas quatro partes do mundo, ganhou a preferência de homens e, em menor medida, mulheres, de todas as camadas sociais. Indivíduos de diversas idades mascavam, aspiravam e/ou fumavam, principalmente, o tabaco das Américas, nas suas diversas variedades. Assim, essa commodity, que conquistava as pessoas pelo paladar, olfato, tato e visão, tornou-se intensamente negociada e difundida nas sociedades que com ela tiveram contato. Pr...
Clio: Revista de Pesquisa Histórica, 2012
The word or concept ―peasantry‖ has been usual in the historiography on Colonial Brazil at least ... more The word or concept ―peasantry‖ has been usual in the historiography on Colonial Brazil at least in the former two decades, particularly regarding the small scale farmers. This articles aims to discuss how suitable the concept is to define small scale production along the colonial period. Thus, it takes into consideration the chief theoretical benchmarks, specially the sociological ones. Similarly, we briefly review some of the relevant works from newly historiography and adduce qualitative data from our own research on Pernambuco's tobacco production.
Pernambuco's Slave Trade from Costa da Mina and Transatlantic Competitions in the Early Eighteent... more Pernambuco's Slave Trade from Costa da Mina and Transatlantic Competitions in the Early Eighteenth Century By Gustavo Acioli Lopes 1 This study presents new estimates of the number of enslaved laborers imported into Pernambuco, Brazil, from locations in West Africa and analyzes key features of that part of the transatlantic slave trade during the eighteenth century. This article is divided into three parts. First, I present a new assessment of the number of enslaved persons imported into Pernambuco in the years 1696-1760 from Costa da Mina, an area of West Africa that was also referred to as the Slave Coast and the Bight of Benin. Utilizing archival research of primary sources, as well as published secondary sources, I have compiled a detailed chronology of slave imports within this overall time period. These import figures are then compared to the numbers of enslaved persons imported into Bahia, Brazil, from the Costa da Mina in the same period, and then with statistics for overall numbers of enslaved persons imported into all of Brazil during that time. In order to understand the Pernambuco slave trade in the context of a transatlantic perspective, in the second part of this article I compare and contrast the Pernambuco import data with the European slave trade in the same region of West Africa. This comparison enables me to evaluate the relative significance of Pernambuco's role in the overall market of slave trading that impacted this region of West Africa.
Os estudos e pesquisas sobre a historia do Brasil colonial tem crescido sobremaneira, tanto do po... more Os estudos e pesquisas sobre a historia do Brasil colonial tem crescido sobremaneira, tanto do ponto de vista quantitativo, quanto qualitativo, nas ultimas duas decadas. Se, em parte, este crescimento pode ser atribuido a multiplicacao das pos-graduacoes, com linhas especificas de pesquisa, tambem se deve ao renovado interesse que o periodo vem despertando entre as novas geracoes de historiadores. E este, por sua vez, ganhou consideravel impulso com os debates que se seguiram as criticas que parte desta nova geracao enumerou contra a linha de analise que privilegia o Antigo Sistema Colonial como elemento explicativo principal. Juntamente com a historia economica, esta linha esteve na defensiva nos anos 1990, quando as abordagens totalizantes, em particular as de vies marxista, foram seriamente questionadas (fenomeno que atingiu as Ciencias Sociais em todo o Ocidente). No entanto, a partir das criticas e debates que resultaram destas, a abordagem do Antigo Sistema Colonial tambem se ...
Revista de História, May 22, 2018
African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, 2007
This study presents new estimates of the number of enslaved laborers imported into Pernambuco, Br... more This study presents new estimates of the number of enslaved laborers imported into Pernambuco, Brazil, from locations in West Africa and analyzes key features of that part of the transatlantic slave trade during the eighteenth century. This article is divided into three parts. First, I present a new assessment of the number of enslaved persons imported into Pernambuco in the years 1696-1760 from Costa da Mina, an area of West Africa that was also referred to as the Slave Coast and the Bight of Benin. Utilizing archival research of primary sources, as well as published secondary sources, I have compiled a detailed chronology of slave imports within this overall time period. These import figures are then compared to the numbers of enslaved persons imported into Bahia, Brazil, from the Costa da Mina in the same period, and then with statistics for overall numbers of enslaved persons imported into all of Brazil during that time. In order to understand the Pernambuco slave trade in the context of a transatlantic perspective, in the second part of this article I compare and contrast the Pernambuco import data with the European slave trade in the same region of West Africa. This comparison enables me to evaluate the relative significance of Pernambuco's role in the overall market of slave trading that impacted this region of West Africa.
CLIO: Revista de Pesquisa Histórica, 2019
RESUMO: Uma ampla historiografia relacionou as descobertas do ouro no Brasil ao aumento na demand... more RESUMO: Uma ampla historiografia relacionou as descobertas do ouro no Brasil ao aumento na demanda por mão de obra africana forçada, o que, por sua vez, levou a uma intensificação das atividades de negreiros luso-brasileiros na Costa da Mina. Ainda são poucas as pesquisas, no entanto, que consideram o papel do ouro nas trocas diretas por escravos no Golfo de Benim e Costa do Ouro. Com base em dados quantitativos e qualitativos, este artigo oferece uma estimativa do volume de ouro levado do Brasil para a Costa da Mina e avalia a sua importância para a aquisição de escravizados naquela área pelos luso-brasileiros. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Ouro; Tráfico de escravos; Impérios atlânticos; Minas Gerais; Costa da Mina. The Other Side of the Coin: Estimates and Impacts of Brazilian Gold on the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Costa da Mina, c. 1700-1750) ABSTRACT: Historians have shown how the discoveries of gold in Brazil led to a rise in the demand for African labor, which in turn led to a stronger presence of Luso-Brazilian slave traders at the Mina Coast. However, few works have explored the specific role of gold in slave-trading activities in the Bight of Benin. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, this article offers an estimate of gold exports to the Mina Coast and analyzes its role in the slave-trading transactions involving Luso-Brazilians in that region. KEYWORDS: Gold; Slave trade; Atlantic empires; Minas Gerais; Costa da Mina. La otra cara de la moneda: estimaciones e impactos del oro de Brasil en el tráfico transatlántico de esclavos (Costa da Mina, c. 1700-1750) RESUMEN: Una amplia producción historiográfica ha relacionado el descubrimiento de minas de oro en Brasil con el aumento en la demanda de mano de obra africana forzada que llevó, a su vez, a una intensificación de las actividades de traficantes de esclavos luso-brasileños en la Costa da Mina, región de África occidental. Sin embargo, todavía son pocas las investigaciones que consideran el rol cumplido por el oro y su intercambio directo por esclavos en el Golfo de Benín. Utilizando informaciones cuantitativas y cualitativas, este artículo ofrece una estimativa del volumen de oro llevado desde Brasil a la Costa da Mina, así como evalúa su importancia para la adquisición de personas esclavizadas por los luso-brasileños en aquella zona. PALABRAS CLAVE: Oro; Trata de esclavos; Imperios atlánticos; Minas Gerais; Costa da Mina.
História (São Paulo), 2019
RESUMO A historiografia sobre os primeiros três séculos da história do Brasil tem sido vincada, n... more RESUMO A historiografia sobre os primeiros três séculos da história do Brasil tem sido vincada, nas últimas duas décadas, por um acirrado debate entre duas correntes de interpretação de nossa formação colonial, a saber, a do Antigo Sistema Colonial e a do Antigo Regime nos Trópicos. Além de indicar as principais linhas de formação historiográfica de cada uma dessas vertentes, o presente artigo enfatiza os aspectos de discordância entre ambas no que diz respeito à definição da dinâmica da sociedade e economia do Brasil colonial, sobretudo as críticas que a vertente Antigo Regime nos Trópicos consolidou. Desta forma, argumenta-se, aqui, que a divergência entre ambas se deve ao aprofundamento que a revisão e crítica dos argumentos do Antigo Sistema Colonial sofreram em razão da influência da Antropologia Econômica e do distanciamento do marxismo, levando à consolidação de uma interpretação em oposição àquela, baseando-se no conceito de arcaísmo.
Saeculum Revista De Historia, 2014
Entrevistadores: Gustavo Acioli Lopes e Solange Pereira da Rocha. Traducao: Gustavo Acioli Lopes ... more Entrevistadores: Gustavo Acioli Lopes e Solange Pereira da Rocha. Traducao: Gustavo Acioli Lopes e Maximiliano M. Menz. Transcricao: Felipe Novaes.
Os principais aspectos abordados são a difusão da produção de tabaco e do tráfico de escravos da ... more Os principais aspectos abordados são a difusão da produção de tabaco e do tráfico de escravos da Costa da Mina na capitania de Pernambuco. Os dois temas são relacionados às distintas fases pelas quais passou a economia da capitania e a do Brasil entre 1654 e 1760. Demonstra-se que aqueles setores tiveram sua dinâmica estreitamente vinculada à principal produção exportadora, seja do açúcar de Pernambuco, seja do ouro do centro-sul da colônia. Palavras-chave: tabaco, tráfico de escravos, Costa da Mina, açúcar, ouro.
História da Historiografia, 2012
O presente artigo aborda a historiografia do nigeriano Joseph E. Inikori, destacando sua análise ... more O presente artigo aborda a historiografia do nigeriano Joseph E. Inikori, destacando sua análise de três temas clássicos da história atlântica moderna: o aspecto quantitativo do tráfico transatlântico de escravos, o impacto do tráfico de escravos na África e a relação entre o capitalismo e a escravidão moderna. Apresentam-se os seus argumentos em contraposição a outras abordagens que aqui denominamos “revisionistas”, de forma a ressaltar os principais pontos de discordância que têm marcado os debates no campo referido e a posição de Inikori nele. Argumenta-se, enfim, que suas análises constituem uma tese mais ampla sobre a formação do mundo atlântico desde o séc. XVI até o advento da Revolução Industrial.
Networks and Trans-Cultural Exchange, 2015
This chapter focuses on estimates of Brazil's slave imports during the Atlantic slave trade e... more This chapter focuses on estimates of Brazil's slave imports during the Atlantic slave trade era calculated by several researchers. It also presents an outline of current knowledge on the colonial economy with which that human traffic was interlinked, seeking to comprehend its distinct fields and productive sectors. In the decade 1760-1770, Brazil's colonial economy underwent a serious crisis, stemming from the decline of gold mining as well as weak performance among other Brazilian commodity exports. Though Minas Gerais was entangled in the "agricultural revival" in late eighteenth century Brazil through supplying foodstuffs to areas producing export crops as well as to smaller local markets, Bergad has argued that, with the exception of a few areas and years, Minas no longer depended on African slave imports after 1780 to replenish the captaincy's slave labour force. Keywords: agricultural revival; Atlantic slave trade; Brazil's colonial economy; Brazilian commodity exports; gold mining; late eighteenth century
SAECULUM-Revista de História [12], 2005
... aspectos da economia do tabaco na América portuguesa e no âmbito do império português. ... 19... more ... aspectos da economia do tabaco na América portuguesa e no âmbito do império português. ... 1988 (edição original: Sugar plantations in the formation of Brazilian society - Bahia 1550-1835 ... n. 24, julho, 1989, p. 193-202; para Alencastro, o livro revoluciona a história econômica ...
The Transatlantic slave trade was closely related to the exchange of manufactured goods between E... more The Transatlantic slave trade was closely related to the exchange of manufactured goods between Europeans and Africans, particularly of textiles, as historiography has pointed out for decades. In Angola's ports and hinterland, textile imports were essential to procure and export slaves as well, since fabrics made up the bundle of goods exchanged for enslaved people. In this article, we approach the role of Contrato de Angola (contract to collect tax) as a supplier of textiles to the Luanda based merchants, underlying the geographical origin and the sort of fabrics, resorting to trade records by the Contrato's managers in the 1760s and 1770s. In order to highlight the results, we draw comparisons between our figures and data of commercial dealings from late seventeenth century and from the Angolan external trade between the end of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. We conclude that some of the features of this trade were quite stable, such as the Lisbon ...
Tempo, 2016
| Entrevista Reflexões sobre uma carreira dedicada ao passado angolano. Entrevista com a historia... more | Entrevista Reflexões sobre uma carreira dedicada ao passado angolano. Entrevista com a historiadora Beatrix Heintze Reflections on a career dedicated to the Angolan past. An interview with the historian Beatrix Heintze Reflections sur une carrière dédiée au passé de l' Angola. Entretiens avec l'historienne Beatrix Heintze Reflecciones acerca de una carrera dedicada ao pasado angolano. Entrevista con la historiadora Beatrix Heintze
Almanack, 2019
J oseph Calder Miller, or as he likes to be called "Joe", is one of the foremost current Africani... more J oseph Calder Miller, or as he likes to be called "Joe", is one of the foremost current Africanists historians 5. He got his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, home of many of the researchers who helped consolidate the field of African history, he was advised by Philip Curtin and Jan Vansina. His research field was the History of Angola, in particular the Imbangala, a community that lived independently of Portuguese rule until the twentieth century.
Revista Brasileira de História, 2019
RESUMO O comércio transatlântico de escravos africanos esteve estreitamente relacionado às transa... more RESUMO O comércio transatlântico de escravos africanos esteve estreitamente relacionado às transações de manufaturas entre europeus e africanos, em particular, de tecidos, como, há décadas, a historiografia tem demonstrado. Em Angola, o comércio nos portos e sertões, para obtenção e exportação de cativos, também teve como elemento fundamental a importação de têxteis, que compunham a cesta de produtos pagos em troca dos escravizados. Neste artigo, discutimos o papel do Contrato de Angola no fornecimento de têxteis aos mercadores de Luanda, destacando a proveniência geográfica e os tipos de tecidos comercializados, tomando como base dados dos registros comerciais mantidos por seus administradores em Luanda nas décadas de 1760 e 1770. De forma a realçar os nossos resultados, comparamos com dados de transações mercantis do final do século XVII e do comércio angolano no final do século XVIII e início do XIX. Concluímos pela estabilidade de certos padrões desse comércio, como a aversão do...
Afro-Ásia
Artigo realizado no âmbito do projeto temático FAPESP "Dimensões do Império Português". Pesquisa ... more Artigo realizado no âmbito do projeto temático FAPESP "Dimensões do Império Português". Pesquisa realizada com apoio do CEBRAP, da Capes e do CNPq. Os autores agradecem aos editores e pareceristas da revista Afro-Ásia pelas críticas e sugestões.
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Papers by Gustavo A Lopes
trade carried out by the Portuguese between Brazil and the
Slave Coast (West Africa coast), the role of tobacco stood out
as the chief item of exchanging. A small number of researchers
have pointed out more recently that Brazilian gold was, at least,
as important as exchange currency in the relations of Portuguese
with European and African agents in procuring African
enslaved workers. This article contributes to this last current in
trying to demonstrate, based on Royal African Company trade
records in Uidá (Slave Coast), the role of Brazilian gold in the
trade relations involving Portuguese and British merchants,
which became quite intense in the earlier half of the eighteenth
century. It also argues that gold was a fundamental factor
for the success of Luso-Brazilian commerce in that region, also
pointing the trans-imperial character of the investments in this
branch of trade. At last, the article suggests one possible contribution
to assess the features of the trade relationship between
the involved agents.
trade carried out by the Portuguese between Brazil and the
Slave Coast (West Africa coast), the role of tobacco stood out
as the chief item of exchanging. A small number of researchers
have pointed out more recently that Brazilian gold was, at least,
as important as exchange currency in the relations of Portuguese
with European and African agents in procuring African
enslaved workers. This article contributes to this last current in
trying to demonstrate, based on Royal African Company trade
records in Uidá (Slave Coast), the role of Brazilian gold in the
trade relations involving Portuguese and British merchants,
which became quite intense in the earlier half of the eighteenth
century. It also argues that gold was a fundamental factor
for the success of Luso-Brazilian commerce in that region, also
pointing the trans-imperial character of the investments in this
branch of trade. At last, the article suggests one possible contribution
to assess the features of the trade relationship between
the involved agents.