South Atlantic slave trade
maritime trade route · 1550 AD–1849 AD
The direct trade between West Central Africa and Brazil, one of the largest branches of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships sailed from Brazilian ports with tobacco and spirits and returned with enslaved Africans. Brazil ended the trade in 1850.
View South Atlantic slave trade on the map →
At a glance
- Goods
- enslaved Africans, tobacco, cachaça, textiles
- Carried by
- sea
- Hubs
- Luanda → Salvador → Rio de Janeiro
Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1550 AD–1575 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Salvador. |
| 1576 AD–1599 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Luanda and Salvador. |
| 1600 AD–1849 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Luanda, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- David Eltis and David Richardson, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, (2010)
- Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database