The Slave Market in Rio de Janeiro circa 1869: Movement, Context, and Social Experience

"The market for slaves in Rio de Janeiro underwent a series of major transformations over the course of the nineteenth century. Prior to 1831, slaves poured into the city during the period of the legal Atlantic slave trade. Tens of thousands more Africans landed in Brazil’s imperial capital before the illegal Atlantic trade was finally suppressed in 1850. Thereafter, buying and selling slaves shifted to a local market typified by individual sales. The proportion of Brazilian-born slaves rose and the social experience of the market changed for all parties involved. Rather than a concentrated, large-scale process dominated by formal market spaces and professional slave traders, the mature slave market in Rio de Janeiro evolved after 1850 into a continuous (in the sense of both time and space) process that encompassed every neighborhood in the city. The absence of an individual slave would be felt in the neighborhood from which she originated, just as her new presence would be felt in the home and neighborhood of her new owner. Mapping the origins and destinations of slaves in this system, using detailed transaction data from the year 1869, highlights the ubiquity of slavery in Rio de Janeiro as well as the constant movement of slaves in and out of new environments. Connecting buyers and sellers to data regarding their wealth and occupations further highlights the significant changes experienced by all parties caught up in the system. Dynamic visualization techniques reveal meaningful patterns at multiple scales."

Frank, Zephyr, and Whitney Berry. “The Slave Market in Rio de Janeiro circa 1869: Context, Movement and Social Experience.” Journal of Latin American Geography Vol 9, No 3 (Fall 2010): 85–110.