Reexamining the "Marginal Institution": the Role of Benguela in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Recorded November 27, 2012
Fall 2012 African Studies Distinguished Lecture
The port of Benguela was a major outlet for the departure of slaves in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Yet, the historiography downplays the impact of the slave trade in West Central Africa and slavery has been understood as a "marginal institution." This talk reexamined these points. It emphasized that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a story of the South Atlantic and that Benguela and its population played a major role in that trade. From the seventeenth century to the mid--nineteenth century, coastal and inland populations joined the Atlantic commerce, which had a profound effect on the subsequent history of the region and of West Central Africa as a whole. In discussing the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on African societies, Mariana P. Candido explored the formation of new elites, the collapse of old states and the emergence of new ones, and mechanisms of enslavement.
For more information visit cis.uchicago.edu/candido
