British abolitionism and trade in enslaved children to Brazil, 1810-1850

ABSTRACT

Under constant pressure by England since 1810, the slave trade to Brazil has adapted itself to a standard demand of the slaveholding elites, ruled by the increase of purchase of African children, until its definitive end in 1850. A similar movement reveals a flexible demographic logic, based on the use of the slave trade to extend the slavery. Such hypothesis is grounded in the management and analysis of the lists and descriptions of slave ships on The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database: Voyages. In order to verify the effectiveness of the action of slaveholding elites, inventories of large landowners in Rio de Janeiro, collected in years ending in 1, 2, 3 and 5, 6, and 7 between 1810 and 1831, were also analysed.

Keywords:
Slavery; Children; Slave trade; Brazil, Nineteenth century