Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600

Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2) December 2023, e020 eISSN: 2253-797X doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 The Iberian Atlantic and the making of the Modern World. Dale W. Tomich and Leonardo Marques (eds.) Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600 Manuel F. Fernández Chaves Universidad de Sevilla e-mail: [email protected] ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1030-0555 Submitted: 30 June 2022. Accepted: 2 December 2022. ABSTRACT: This article analyses the management of the 1594-1600 Angola Contract signed by the Portuguese merchants João Nunes Correia, Manuel Fernandes Anjo, and André Lopes Pinto, which regulated the extraction of slaves to America and the taxation system applied. Our current knowledge of such contracts is superficial, particularly for the 16th century, and even more so is our understanding of the management and the accounts of these agreements, which have not been preserved. The documents pertaining to litigation between the contractors and their handler in Angola, the accounts of which are partially preserved for the years between 1597 and 1600 in the Historical Protocols Archive in Madrid, enable us to gain a better understanding of the working of the Contract. KEYWORDS: Angola Contract; Slave trade; Textiles; Portuguese merchants; Brazil; brazilwood; Spanish America; litigation. Citation / Cómo citar este artículo: Fernández Chaves, Manuel F. (2023) “Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600.” Culture & History Digital Journal, 12 (2): e020. doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/ chdj.2023.020 RESUMEN: Gestión del comercio de esclavos: las cuentas del Contrato de Angola entre 1597-1600.— En este artículo se analiza la gestión del contrato de Angola firmado por João Nunes Correia, Manuel Fernandes Anjo y André Lopes Pinto entre 1594 y 1600, que regulaba la saca de esclavos hacia América y su fiscalidad. Nuestro conocimiento de estos contratos es superficial, especialmente en el siglo XVI, y aún lo es más la gestión y las cuentas de los mismos, que apenas si se han conservado. Gracias a un pleito iniciado entre los contratadores y su factor en Angola podemos conocer la gestión de este contrato, al incluirse un resumen de las cuentas de la factoría que sirvió para dirimir los derechos de los litigantes. Utilizamos también un porcón impreso sobre el pleito y otra documentación de archivos españoles y portugueses para comprender mejor la gestión del contrato de Angola. PALABRAS CLAVE: Contrato de Angola; tráfico de esclavos; textiles; mercaderes portugueses; Brasil; palo Brasil; América española; litigios. Copyright: © 2023 CSIC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. 2 • Manuel F. Fernández Chaves Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 INTRODUCTION The Atlantic slave trade during the 16th century has recently been the subject of new approaches that highlight both the varied nature of the origin of the agents involved in it (Portuguese, Spanish, conversos, Jews, Creoles, etc.), emphasizing the mixed African, Iberian and American identities, as well as the complexity of the economic networks that played a key role in its development (Mark and Horta, 2011; Green, 2012; Cabral, 2015; Wheat, 2016; Fernández Chaves and Pérez García, 2016). Our knowledge of this rich and rapidly changing Atlantic world has also developed around the commercial and administrative organization of the trade, whose complexity increased over the years, bringing into play many commodities, besides slaves (Pérez García, 2022). Specifically, the trade in slaves and merchandises in Africa was managed by the Portuguese Crown through the signing of contracts with individual merchants or, more often, with merchant companies, although sometimes those trades were directly organized by the crown (Dias, 1964; Pereira, 2019). In exchange for the payment of a fixed sum to the Crown, the contractors held the lease of the management of the taxation of different areas of Africa and the organisation of the commerce supporting the trade of slaves and other goods. Among these contracts, those of Cabo Verde and São Tomé were particularly prominent, while the Angola Contract only came into being in the 1580s, separated from the one of São Tomé.1 The contractors enjoyed extensive autonomy that enabled them to organise the mercantile activities in their domains and to make other economic agents dependent upon their actions, while at the same time providing a service to the Crown, which outsourced the handling of the slave trade and other matters. Although they were overseen by official representatives of the Crown displaced to the regions of interest and were obliged to comply with a series of conditions that varied according to each contract, these documents, the contents of which have rarely been preserved for the 16th century, shed much light on the Atlantic slave trade in its early phase.2 From the time of the Iberian Union, the monarchy offered the Guinea, São Tomé and Angola contractors the possibility of sending slaves not only to Brazil and Portugal but also to Spanish America, including the right to use a certain number of licences, which made the bidding for these contracts more attractive in the eyes of Portuguese financiers and merchants. In general terms, from 1582 onwards, the number of slaves to be sent to Spanish America in those contracts was 3,000, 500 for each of the six years of each contract, although this number varied somewhat. The Crown obtained a part of the earnings, a quarter or a third of the sale price of the slave in America, depending if the contract was one of Guinea, or the other of Angola and São Tomé (Scelle, 1906, I, pp. 335-336; Garcia, 1962; Vila Vilar, 2014, p. 36; Fernández Chaves, forthcoming). In the case of the Angola Contract, previous research knew only the first of the agreements signed by Pedro de Sevilha and António Mendes de Lamego for 1588-1594 (Scelle, 1906, I, pp. 790-794), after this area had been detached from the São Tomé Contract. A subsequent Angola Contract, effective between 1593 and 1603 (Mauro, 1997, I, p. 215), was thought to have been signed by João Rodrigues Coutinho and Pedro Gomes Reinel. However, we have recently shown that the contract for the extraction of slaves from Angola and the taxation of this activity was in fact signed by the cristão novo merchant João Nunes Correia and his partners Manuel Fernandes Anjo, and André Lopes Pinto. Signed in March 1594, and with effect between mid-1593 and 1600, this contract was divided into three parts for the first partner, two for the second, and one for the third (Fernández Chaves, 2022a).3 Moreover, this contract was parallel to the agreement signed by Pedro Gomes Reinel to supply 4,250 slaves per year for 9 years to the Indies of the Crown of Castile (Vila Vilar, 2014, pp. 45-50), in such a way that it was a crucial tool in the correct compliance of Reinel’s deal. In addition to the Angola Contract, studies have noted that the agreement on brazilwood for 1593-1600 was signed by the same three partners, João Nunes Correia, Manuel Fernandes Anjo, and André Lopes Pinto (Mauro, 1997, I, p. 176; Salvador, 1978, p. 166; Mello, 1993, p. 63),4 thus the supply of slave labour and the management of brazilwood in Brazil was controlled by the same consortium of merchants (Carrasco Vázquez, 2004a). New documents provide further information on this point since it appears that the brazilwood contract was effective from the day of St. John the Baptist in 1593 until the same day in 1599, and was initially divided into two halves, one for João Nunes Correia and the other for Vasco Martins da Veiga, of the powerful Veiga d’Evora clan. It has also emerged that João Nunes Correia participated in half of both contracts in the place of his brother Enrique Nunes Correia, the actual title holder and who really provided the money and the deposits required,5 and actually figuring as Angola contractor in some sources (Fonseca, 2010, pp. 197, 201), a fact that has passed unacknowledged due to his death in 1598 at which time his brother João took over the businesses, and because the Contract had been signed by his brother João. Although the main partners in the Angola Contract were João Nunes Correia, Manuel Fernandes Anjo, and André Lopes Pinto, in the brazilwood agreement it seems that, in practice, the partners in addition to Correia were André Ximenes, Rodrigo de Andrade, Mateus da Veiga, and Manuel Fernandes Anjo, as is recorded in the Portuguese documents.6 The close relationship between the two contracts and their commercial scope, and the merchants involved, was a further step in the creation of an oligopoly favoured by the Crown, which did not appear to give much importance to the fact that João Nunes Correia was a New Christian suspected of Judaizing in Brazil and that, one year before the signing of both contracts by his brother, in 1592, he had been taken to Lisbon by the Inquisition (about his figure, Lipiner, 1969; Carrasco Vázquez, 2004b; Assis, 2011, 2014). Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600 • 3 THE LITIGATION AND THE CONTRACT ACCOUNTS One of the handlers of the contract in Angola was the factor Manuel Ruiz Cartagena, who acted in this post between 1597 and 1600. Dissatisfied with the payment for his work in Africa, he sued João Nunes Correia and his partners in 1606 to obtain a fair settlement for his services, providing the contract accounts as supporting evidence for his claim. At this time, both Ruiz Cartagena and Nunes Correia lived in Seville. The latter did so with his family as he had taken out the lease on the asiento de la avería in 1603 (Carrasco Vázquez, 2004b, pp. 180-191; Pajuelo Muñoz, 2021, pp. 69-80, 391- 408 and passim), and Ruiz Cartagena had probably followed him in his new economic enterprise. The date of the claim is not fortuitous since at the end of August 1606, a warrant was issued against Correia, who was imprisoned at the Castle of Torrejón de Velasco. He was accused by the Treasury of involvement in crimes of embezzlement and bribery, charges with which the ministers Alonso Ramírez de Prado, Pedro Franqueza, and Pedro Álvares Pereira would soon after also be accused (Carrasco Vázquez, 2004b, pp. 248-249),7 in the first trial against the regime of the Duke of Lerma (Williams, 2010, pp. 193-198). As the two litigating parties failed to come to an agreement, arbitration was sought in the persons of two other Portuguese merchants based in Madrid, Luis Correa Monsanto on the side of Ruiz Cartagena and Francisco Fernández de Moura on the side of Correia.8 Their intervention was signed on the 3rd of August 1621.9 It must be kept in mind that what was taken down in these documents refers fundamentally to the areas in disagreement between the parties, in such a way that they cannot be considered complete accounts, although the information provided is quite broad, as we shall expound. According to the arbitrators, Correia owed Cartagena the amount of 1,207,207 réis, equivalent to 30,180 reales de plata (rsp) and 15 maravedís (mrs). However, Correia raised the due total to 35,000 rsp (=1,400,000 réis) to cover the expenses and legal fees paid by Cartagena, something that he was not required to do but that he endorsed on the condition that both parties agreed to close the litigation and to not pursue it except through a new action on a different matter.10 The auditors divided the account into three parts. The first dealt with the income obtained from the sale of the cargoes of the ships that had traded in Angola with the avença of the contractors,11 including the payment of duties for slaves and the various expenses derived from the handling of the Contract. The second was concerned with the ships engaged directly by João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo, of which the profits were divided into three quarters for the former and one quarter for the latter; the handling costs were also recorded. The third dealt with the ships engaged by Correia and Fernandes Anjo in equal halves and their corresponding expenses. Ahead of the analysis of each part, a global summary was made of the money invested by the contractors and disbursed by Ruiz Cartagena in the handling of the Contract (Table 1). The resulting sum of 32,655,835 réis was the amount that the contractors claimed they had not yet received from Manuel Ruiz Cartagena. The greater part of this amount, 80.6% (26,350,839 réis), was the value of the merchant cargoes shipped by private entrepreneurs and the contractors themselves. The latter were directly responsible for almost half of the total value, and João Nunes Correia himself had paid almost one-third, 7,653,590 réis. This provides an idea of the magnitude of the role of the contractors in the promotion of the mercantile dynamics in Angola, which greatly exceeded Table 1. Amounts contained in the current account of Manuel Ruiz Cartagena and pending payment to the contractors Description Réis Shipments sent on account of the Contract and 15 pipas (transport drums) 13.546.551 8 shipments and their pipas (drums) sent to Angola on account of the private funds of Juan Núñez Correa alone 7.653.590 4 shipments and their pipas (drums) sent to Angola on account of the private funds of Juan Nuñez Correa and Manuel Fernandes Anjo for equal halves 5.150.698 Subtotal 26.350.839 Duties paid by several ships 3.065.340 Notary fees 20.000 Handling of conocimientos from Juan de Argumedo* 1.112.656 Handling of Juan de Oporto 35.000 Receipt of licences 2.000.000 Money sent to Pernambuco 72.000 Subtotal 6.304.996 Total 32.655.835 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 692v. * Including 295.200 réis for a conocimento in goods for a value of 496.200 réis, as well as 65.856 réis for 168,6 covados of palmilla from a cargo worth 3.295.760 réis, AHPM, leg. 4017, f. 692v. 4 • Manuel F. Fernández Chaves Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 the obligations stipulated in the Contract (Fernández Chaves, 2022a, pp. 16-17, 23). The duties paid by the ships sent to trade in Angola accounted for 9.3% of the total, while the remaining 9.9% covered basic operating costs such as the fees of the notary in Angola, the salary of Ruiz Cartagena and other fees, in addition to the handling costs of conocimientos from the cargoes of Juan de Argomedo, one of the partners of the contractors, and those of another merchant named Juan de Oporto. The receipt of funds sent from Lisbon in the form of licencias,12 and the money sent to Pernambuco on Gaspar Fernandes Anjo, brother of the contractor Manuel Fernandes Anjo (Mello, 1993, p. 52), to pay to Bento Maciel, are the final elements of these accounts. It is important to note that the function of Ruiz Cartagena was much more than that of a mere warehouse keeper and seller of goods arriving from Lisbon. Indeed, he collected the taxes pertaining to the Contract, supplied part of the merchandise to the Governor,13 handled the private shipments of the contractors, and also negotiated with money orders received from Lisbon and transferred funds to the partners and the relatives of the contractors in Brazil. On the one part, Manuel Ruiz Cartagena’s expenditures were mainly attributed to the sums disbursed on the “conocimientos” of the cargoes sold in Angola and those sent on to Brazil and the Indies, whether from private entrepreneurs or the contractors. The cost of notary fees, his own salary, and other amounts also figure. The total amount of 34,644,949 réis was further increased by the 1,500,000 réis of the handling costs of several shipments, including “comisiones, seguros, avería de galeones y más costas” which the handler had paid to be settled to Captain Jorge Fernandes Gramaxo in Cartagena de Indias (Table 2). However, the auditors reduced this amount by half, 750, 000 réis, observing “diferencia que hay en ser dinero de Angola a moneda de España,” thus leaving the debt in favour of the handler of the Angola Contract at 35,394,949 réis. On the other part, the contractors claimed from their former handler the settlement of the duties and commissions included in Table 3, in addition to the 32,655,835 réis, the largest part of which corresponded to the retail value of their cargoes. All this amounted to 32,980,515 réis, thus the contractors were in fact obliged to pay 2,414,434 réis. The contractors agreed to settle “por res- to y igualamiento desta cuenta que tantos consta estarse debiendo por resto della al dicho Manuel Ruiz Cartage- Table 2. Manuel Ruiz Cartagena’s expenditures Description Réis Conocimientos sent on account of the Contract 18.001.250 Manuel Ruiz Cartagena’s expenses and salary 1.164.020 Shipments of goods to João Nunes Correia 10.407.559 Notary fees 40.500 8 shipments on account of the private funds of João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo 5.031.620 Subtotal 34.644.949 Conocimientos sent to Cartagena de Indias 750.000 Total 35.394.949 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 693r. Table 3. Amounts claimed from Manuel Ruiz Cartagena and the balance of the account Amounts claimed from Manuel Ruiz Cartagena Réis “Suma de su débito” [sum of his debit] 32.655.835 For the breakage of cargo and the commission on the shipment of Gaspar Rangel 220.000 Duties collected from Antonio Pires Rangel on the cargo sent to Rio de Janeiro on account of the private funds of João Nunes Correia 104.680 Subtotal 32.980.515 Balance André Lopes and Manuel Fernandes Anjo for the half “que tenían en el dicho contrato” [they owed in the Contract] 1.207.217 “Por la mitad que toca a João Nunes Correia” [the half of João Nunes Correia] 1.207.217 Subtotal 2.414.434 Total 35.394.949 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 693v. Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600 • 5 na,” and divided the amount in two: 1,207,217 réis paid by João Nunes Correia, and the other equal half paid by André Lopes, and Manuel Fernandes Anjo “por mitad que tenían en el dicho contrato,” thus reaching the 35,394,949 réis owed to Ruiz Cartagena and finalizing the debt between the two parties. ECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF THE CONTRACT. THE CARGOES Concerning the cargoes sent on behalf of private entrepreneurs, according to these accounts, between May 1597 and November 1600, 15 shipments arrived in the Kingdom of Angola with goods amounting to a total value of 13,791,518 réis (Table 4). Their value was however diminished by the damage suffered during the voyage, in addition to the repercussion of other charges such as the freight of each bead container (1,333 réis, containing approximately 106 stones), each bundle of cloth (between 1,000 and 1,422.2 réis per bundle) and each pipa (transport drum), used to hold goods and wine (between 2,000 and 2,600 réis per unit). The greater part of the cargoes was made up of textiles,14 with a total of 20,267.1 elbows or covados, and 2,204 varas (the measure used, for instance, in the case of rajeta). As Lopes and Menz pointed out: A transação de tecidos por escravos foi um dos principais eixos mercantis a partir do século XVI, pelo qual Oriente e Ocidente eram enlaçados numa cadeia mercantil que se estendia do Atlântico ao Índico, englobando, numa ponta, a prata da América, e na outra, os bens de origem asiática, mas incluindo, também, outros produtos tropicais e manufaturas europeias, envolvidas na troca de pessoas por bens de consumo variados, dentre os quais os têxteis compunham a maior parte.15 The total value of these cloths was 11,785,514 réis, 87% of the total value of these shipments, with an average investment of 928,947.6 réis per cargo. The price of each type of textile is shown in Table 4, as well as the total volume of each type and the percentage that it represented in the total value of the shipped goods. The largest investments were placed in frisado and palmilla. In terms of gross quantity, these types represented 76.8% of the textiles measured in elbows. So-called London cloth was the least abundant type but its value was the highest.16 In all cases, some cloths arrived rotten or damaged, and lost resale value. Beads were also shipped, mainly the socalled margarideta, a type of glass bead frequent on the coasts of Guinea, and also used in Angola in the economic transactions for the purchase of slaves17. The freight containers or drums are also included in Table 4 because they could have been sold in the region after their use had been fulfilled. As a private initiative, João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo also sent eight shipments (one in 1597 and seven in 1599), with the investment and profits divided into three quarters for the first and one quarter for the second. The accountants only recorded the value of the contribution of Nunes Correia, amounting to 7,841,303 réis, with an average investment per shipment of 980,162.8 réis. A profit of 7,653,590 réis was obtained, after the deduction of breakage, losses, and the price of the freight containers. The composition of the cargoes was very similar to those described above, with 88.15% of the total value being made up of textiles, and the remaining 11.85% of beads. Only three varieties of textiles were sent to Angola in these shipments, namely arbini (flemish cloths), frisado, and palmilla, and the latter alone represented more than half of the total value of the entire shipment (59.3%). So-called London cloth does not appear in the books. It should be noted that at other latitudes, palmilla was also an important merchandise among the textiles being shipped, and is mentioned for instance in some Dutch voyages18 or in the correspondence of Juan de Argumendo himself later ca. 1610.19 In the Seville archives, we have also documented palmilla for sale in Africa, produced in local workshops in both Andalusia and Extremadura.20 On Table 4. Merchandise and their respective values sent to Angola by private entrepreneurs between 1597 and 1600 Merchandise type Price, réis per unit-elbow-rod- pound Quantity (unit-elbow-rod- pound) Réis % of the total value of the shipped goods Pipas (drums) 1.200 89 106.800 0,7 London cloth 800 1.615,8 1.319.666 9,5 Frisado 600 6.601,75 3.898.450 28,2 Arbini 600 2.898,5 1.686.740 12,2 Palmilla 450 8.735,05 3.441.446 24,9 Parrilla 450 842,5 379.312 2,7 Rajeta 300-600 2.204 1.059.900 7,6 Margarideta 320 4.834 1.899.200 13,7 Total - - 13.791.514 100 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 680r-682r. 6 • Manuel F. Fernández Chaves Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 the other hand, we have not found in the cargoes departing from Seville in these same years to Cabo Verde or Angola cloths from London but instead fine trims brought from Milan.21 This is indicative of the specialisation of the cargoes according to the availability of the products at the port of origin. In addition to the margarideta glass beads, there are porcelain beads, the cheapest of all of the goods of the cargoes, with a limited proportion of the total value.22 These beads are also recorded among the products loaded aboard in Seville, complementary to the margarideta and other varieties imitating precious stones that do not appear in these shipments.23 Finally, in 1597, João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo sent four shipments as equal partners, the goods of which reached a total value of 5,518,440 réis, which, after damages and freight costs, came to 5,150,698 réis, with an average investment of 1,379,610 réis per shipment, well above the average investment by private entrepreneurs. Textiles again made up the best part of the cargoes, with margarideta beads accounting for 16.3% of the total value. Again, a common wool textile such as palmilla was predominant, as well as the frisado and a very scarce complement made up of expensive London cloths. There is no arbini or rajeta, which are found in other private cargoes. The high cost of the freight of each drum is noteworthy in these shipments, most commonly fixed at 4,000 réis, except on one of the ships on which it was only 2,000 réis. As for the rate of arrival of the chartered shipments, and still based on the information provided in these accounts, the 15 shipments sent by private entrepreneurs arrived mainly in 1598, with seven arrivals, also accounting for all the arrivals in Angola in 1600, with only two shipments. In 1597 and 1599, the contractors promoted commercial activities with Luanda. Thus, in 1597, in addition to the four shipments organised by private merchants, a further five cargoes were freighted with the direct participation of João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo. Again in 1599 and given the scarce private initiative (only two shipments according to these accounts), the contractors sent seven shipments on their own, dividing the investment (and profits) between ¾ for Correia and ¼ for Fernandes Anjo. Thus, these partners were responsible for sending a total of 12 shipments, a little less than half of the entire activity since other private entrepreneurs chartered at least these 15 shipments to the African kingdom. It does appear, however, that the ships recorded in these accounts were not all those that were sent. We know that in Lisbon in 1599 João Nunes Correia engaged Juan de Argumedo to charter four Portuguese ships to take slaves from Angola to Cartagena de Indias. To do this, they first had to complete their cargo in Cadiz with “margarideta e contaria resgates de Angola… emprestimos e pipas e caldeiras e registos e tudo o mais que necesario for pera as ditas armações … vinhos e azeite.” For this Table 5. Value and volume of the shipments made by João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo to Angola (¾ for Nunes Correia) Merchandise type Réis per unit Units Value % Pipas (drums) 1.000/1.200 88 104.000 1,3 Frisado 600 2.845,75 1.707.850 21,7 Arbini 400/600 1.040,3 554.600 7 Palmilla 450 11.629,32 4.652.093 59,3 Porcelain beads 180 (thousand) 2.800 340.200 4,3 Margarideta 320 1.833 586.560 7,4 Total - - 7.841.303 100 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, 688r-689v. Table 6. Value and volume of the shipments arranged by João Nunes Correia and Manuel Fernandes Anjo to Angola (equal parts) Merchandise type Réis per unit-elbow-pound Quantity units-elbows/ pounds Value % of the total value of the cargoes London cloth 200/800 446 315.400 5,7 Palmilla 300/400 7.578,25 3.011.300 54,5 Frisado 250/600 2.203,5 1.287.100 23,3 Margarideta 320 2.825 904.640 16,3 Totales - 10.227,8/2.825 5.518.440 100% Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 690r-v. Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600 • 7 purpose, the contractors advanced the necessary funds which would be discounted from the final payment for the shipment. As shown in Table 8, the loan was equivalent to about 1,000-1,100 réis per slave. It is interesting to note how it was expressly indicated that the shipments would be financed with the money obtained from the sale of brazilwood in Cadiz. Moreover, it was also made clear that the reinvestment in the slave trade would be of interest to all of the main brazilwood contractors, thus João Nunes Correia spoke on their behalf so that his envoy in Cadiz, Juan de Argumedo, “troque o pao en Cadis do Rio de Janeiro todo que ali foi ter na nao de João Bandarida a margarideta e contaria resgates de Angola e que o dito señor frete… tudo necesario pera… gastar escravos e os levar ao Brasil ou a Indias de Castela qual melhor e de mais proveito lhe parecer.”24 Nunes Correia also authorised Argumedo to collect a shipment of 500 pesos from the profits of the Angola Contract sent from Cartagena de Indias by Bartolomeu Jorge, and which he was to use to settle debts and organise these shipments.25 The shipmaster was paid 6,000 réis for each slave arriving alive to Tierra Firme26 and 7,000 réis in the case of New Spain27, having paid 300 réis per slave in Angola. If the cargo was “pedra contarias como de vara e covado ne paguara frete algumo,”28 and the transport of the rest of the goods was charged at 3,000 réis per ton for the first five, and 5,000 réis per ton for the subsequent units. Each ton of goods also advanced 500 réis for misfortune.29 Table 7. Timeline of the shipments to Angola, based on the accounts of the handler of the Contract between 1597-1600 Year Name of the ship Type of ship Master of the ship Net value of the cargo Contractor 1597 Esperanza - Francisco Díaz 947.625 P 1597 - - Sebastián de Acosta Barrios 952.820 P 1597 - - Pantaleón González 666.450 P 1597 - - Francisco Juan 860.520 P 1597 NS de la Concepción - “Pedrienes” 1.490.746 CH 1597 San Antonio Juan Carnide 1.272.316 CH 1597 San Juan Nao García Fernández 1.297.093 CH 1597 - - Gaspar Rangel 1.121.143 CH 1597 - Hulk Pedro Brante 901.904 C 1598 - - Claudio Beltrán 509.120 P 1598 - Caravel Esteban Luis 818.606 P 1598 - - Luis González 770.850 P 1598 - - Gaspar Martínez 1.296.280 P 1598 - Hulk Gaspar de Lima 981.640 P 1598 - - Antonio Martínez de Orta 1.062.400 P 1598 Santa María Hulk Cristóbal Cornieles 1.368.840 P 1599 Ciervo Volante Nao Martín Arman 1.588.913 P 1599 - - Antonio Vidal 731.400 P 1599 La Magdalena - Luis Fernández de Beja 670.945 C 1599 - - Bento Luis 549.853 C 1599 - - Iván Rodríguez 222.000 C 1599 Juan de Noronha 632.876 C 1599 - Hulk Leonardo de Ver 2.184.128 C 1599 Santa Catalina Hulk Juan de Oporto 1.666.552 C 1599 - - Belchior Ruiz 721.232 C 1600 San Pedro Nao Pedro Esbrante 395.600 P 1600 - - Manuel Afonso 983.150 P Total 26.665.002 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 680r-682r, 688r-689v, 690r-v. P: private. C: Contractors ¾ and ¼. CH: Contractors equal halves. 8 • Manuel F. Fernández Chaves Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 THE EXPENDITURES OF THE CONTRACT As indicated above, the accounts included the sums disbursed by Manuel Ruiz Cartagena in his post as “factor.” These include so-called “conocimientos,” which refer to goods, cash, and other effects provided by the contractors to the Governor of Angola. Their value amounted to 18,001,250 réis, 85% of which was paid in the form of textile products and margarideta, necessary for commercial exchanges in the area and by contract an obligatory part of the shipments (Fernández Chaves, 2022a, pp. 20, 28-29; 2022c). It is noteworthy that not all of these goods came from the shipments made by the contractors themselves since the net value of the merchandise sent in the 12 chartered vessels on record only amounted to 15,320,068.75 réis, The contractor’s handler must therefore have needed to purchase goods from the shipments of private entrepreneurs that were then sold to the Governor and other officials. The main recipient of the goods and cash was the Crown’s treasurer in Angola, Antonio Machado, who on occasion received goods from the King’s handler, Sebastião Coelho. It is interesting to note that part of the collected goods was cash currency, used to pay the salaries of officers and members of the Society of Jesus. The latter payments were recorded to Father José de Acosta, and it appears the members of the Society received a total of 1,598,551.586 réis. A sum of 157,500 réis was sent to Luis Núñez, a resident of Bahia, to purchase weapons. In addition to these “conocimientos,” Manuel Ruiz Cartagena noted in a separate account the private shipments in which João Nunes Correia put forward three of the four parts (see Table 9). In the case of merchandise, the great majority was also received by Antonio Machado, while the salaries were paid to diverse members of the Portuguese colony, most of them related to the Church.30 The deliveries made from these shipments also consisted mainly of textiles and beads, including “margarideta,” “cano de pata,” “abalorio” and other unspecified types.31 Nunes Correia also turned over cash currency, paid several salaries, as well as Jesuit passage rights, and delivered flour and sheep skins.32 Finally, the “costas y salario,” described in the accounts as “gastos menudos,” amounted to a little over one million réis and corresponded for the most part to the payment of salaries to the officers of the Contract, with the rest of the entries referring to the notary fees for writing up different registers and receipts of passage, as well as certifications for the tax-free slaves taken out by the Jesuits, the rent of the house where the Contract handler lived, and surely gifts and bribes. In addition, the taxation per wine barrel to finance an “armada” collected more than 57,000 réis, and almost the same amount appears to have been put forward by the contractors to cover the expenses of that same fleet, about which there is very scarce information. Indeed, it appears to have been set up after the Contract was signed (and therefore is not mentioned in the agreement) and funded by the tax collection “a razón de un tanto por cada pipa.”33 Table 8. Other ships sent by the contractors of Angola in 1599 Master of the ship Origin Ship Nº of slaves Loan (réis) André Luis Alfama (Lisbon) Madre de Deus 250 260.000 André Alvares Setúbal Espíritu Santo 160 160.000 Francisco Mayo Matosinhos São João 300 300.000 Pascoal Carvalho Sesimbra Santiago 200 220.000 Total - - 910 940.000 Source: ANTT, CNL, Cartório 3, Liv. 45, cx. 12, f. 36v, Lisboa, 6-IX-1599. Table 9. Conocimientos and merchandise delivered to Angola General conocimientos Conocimientos from the shipments of Nunes Correia Merchandise type Réis % Merchandise type Réis % Textiles 10.596.404 59 Textiles 3.832.330 33 Margarideta 4.623.760 26 Beads 1.696.800 15 Cash currency 2.072.000 11 Cash currency 1.624.300 14 Salaries IHS 551.586 3 Salaries 1.246.250 11 Purchase of weapons 157.500 1 Conocimientos (unespecified) 2.394.465 21 - - - Flour 434.000 4 - - - Sheep skins 196.800 2 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 684r-685r, 688r-689v. Culture & History Digital Journal 12(2), December 2023, e020. eISSN 2253-797X, doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.020 Managing the Slave Trade: the Accounts of the Angola Contract between 1597-1600 • 9 THE DUTIES PAID PER SLAVE The money raised from the collection of duties per slave amounted to 3,054,180 réis, corresponding to 912 slaves loaded on 26 ships34. The records belong to three ships from 1598 and 24 from 1600, 19 of them from the month of November. This is, therefore, a partial register that does not reflect all of the activities but provides the basis for a better understanding of the discretionary nature of the taxation of the slave trade. Almost all of these 912 slaves are described as “piezas” except 10 recorded as “muleques.” The duties are very low at 1,250 and 1666.6 réis on average on two ships destined for São Tomé, in a patache sent by the Governor of Angola with another four slaves35. The average number of slaves per ship is 35 but this figure seems very low for these dates and leads us to suggest that some slaves were not recorded or the cargoes were completed at other ports of call. It does not make sense, for example, that only one slave was recorded on Luis de Oliveira’s ship bound for Table 10. “Gastos menudos” (Petty expenses) Description Réis Payment to the official notary for the register of “conocimientos” 57.080 Notary fees related to the Society of Jesus 6.000 Certification of the “piezas horras” of the Jesuits and passage on 23 ships 42.200 Certifications 2.740 Register of avenças 6.000 Subtotal 1 173.420 Rent of the house in which the ships were dispatched on the island 10.000 “Que dio al proveedor por bien del contrato de que dará razón” 40.000 Subtotal 2 50.000 Tax duties on each barrel of wine to finance the armada 57.080 Cost of the “armada” put forward by the contractors 55.400 Subtotal 3 112.080 Salaries 904.000 Total 1.164.020 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, PNM, leg. 4017, f. 685v-686r. Table 11. Duties paid per slave and their destination, under the Angola Contract of 1599-1600, according to the accounts of the contractors Destination Nº of ships “Piezas” Duties (réis) Rio de Janeiro 2 217 279.000 Bahia 3 78 253.900 “Brazil” 1 34 90.200 Pernambuco 2 29 78.300 Subtotal 8 358 701.400 S. Tomé 3 187 302.000 Lisbon 1 55 65.800 Subtotal 4 242 367.400 New Spain 1 1 7.000 Cartagena de Indias 12 299 1.893.980 Indias de Castilla 1 12 84.000 Subtotal 14 312 1.984.980. Total 26 912 3.054.180 Source: prepared by the author based on AHPM, leg. 4017, f. 682r-683v.