Gender, Foodstuff Production and Trade in Late-Eighteenth Century Luanda

Abstract

African and Luso-African individuals who possessed land and slave labor benefited from the opportunities generated by foodstuff trade in West Central Africa. This study explores the participation of both men and women in the production and trade of foodstuffs in late-eighteenth century Luanda, the capital of the Portuguese colony of Angola, with a particular focus on manioc flour, an essential staple in the diet of the town’s residents. Drawing upon registers produced by scribes of the public market (Terreiro Público) and license requests to engage in retail trade, this study suggests that the supply of foodstuffs was an alternative for individuals who did not have enough capital to enter the slave trade. In the context of the insecurity embedded in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, supplying foodstuffs became a safe option that attracted the capital of well-established and smaller traders. On the other hand, the retail trade of the markets and streets created room for the poor and even the enslaved. Through their participation in trade activities, free end enslaved women were able to increase their household earnings and, presumably, establish a degree of independence in relation to men.

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