The diverse business interests of a Portuguese trader in enslaved Africans.

What is it about?

In the sixteenth century, Spain lacked a foothold on the African coast and was therefore forced to make contracts or asientos with other nationalities for the introduction of enslaved Africans to the Americas. Between 1580-1640 these exclusive contracts were made with the Portuguese, many of whom were converts from Judaism, known as New Christians or conversos. The most prominent merchant in the trade of enslaved Africans to Peru in the early seventeenth century was the New Christian, Manuel Bautista Pérez. Pérez undertook two slave trading ventures to Africa personally in 1613-14 and 1617-18 but subsequently settled in Lima and conducted his commercial activities primarily through a network of relatives and compatriots.

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Photo by Europeana on Unsplash

Photo by Europeana on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Pérez’s meticulous business accounts, which are held in the Archivo General de la Nación in Lima, provide unique insight into how this trade operated through a network of agents that ran through Goa, Senegambia, Spanish America, the Philippines and China. The article is not about the trade in enslaved Africans itself but shows how it depended on acquiring goods that could be exchanged for enslaved Africans, namely cottons from India, and how Pérez’s experience and network enabled him to develop a diverse range of other business activities focused on textiles, beeswax, and pearls. At the core of the article is an examination of why and how Pérez acquired these three commodities and an assessment of their profitability. It shows how the trade in enslaved Africans remained at the heart of his business, which only ended in 1639 when Pérez was put to death by the Inquisition on charges of Judaizing.