Trade of Souls & Foreign Policy: the African-Atlantic Guideline of Brazilian Imperial Diplomacy, 1822-1856

Abstract

In your Report of 1849, Paulino José Soares de Sousa, Foreign Minister of the Empire, said the following words: “the question of the slave trade is unquestionably one of the most transcendence, not only in our international relationships, but also on the internal and future state of the country”. In fact, until the mid-nineteenth century the issue of the Atlantic slave trade was one of the main points of the imperial diplomacy. The purpose of this research, it is therefore, through the study of Ministerial Reports submitted to the Legislative Assembly during the 1830s, 40s and 50s, explore the transformations undergone by African-Atlantic guideline of Brazilian foreign policy along a period marked by the international campaign in favor of the abolish of the slave trade across the Atlantic. How we try to demonstrate in the four chapters that this study, this guideline was directly related to the destination of the slave trade. So, once ended the slave trade between Africa and Brazil it’s no longer more how a priority for Brazilian foreign policy.