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Does anybody have reliable references regarding the place of the Port industry in the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries? I have some information on the trade of Port for English woollen textiles in Portugal in the 1700s, and how Portuguese merchants sold on these textiles to buy slaves in west Africa. If anyone has more specific references I'd be very grateful to know of them.

I have looked at this topic in my modest library and have come to the conclusion that there is a more direct link between Madeira and the slave trade for two reasons. Firstly, Madeira was traditionally "aged" in the hulls of ships that crossed the globe and secondly because it was the preferred tipple of the descendants of the colonists of north America.

Port was shipped across the Atlantic in the 18th and 19th centuries but principally to what is now Greenland to be aged slowly in cold temperatures.

I have come across one reference in a book that claimed that the skin of African treaders was useful for adding colour to the wine in a lagar. The reference, which is two centuries old, was rightly ridiculing the idea.

I don't really now much about this subject, but an internet search brought up these books or encyclopedias (or encyclopediae):
Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of Slavery (1999)
Postma, Johannes. The Atlantic Slave Trade, (2003)
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed., The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery (1997)

Perhaps you just look up if there is an entry about Portugal (where there might be some information on portwine as well)

Thank you both. Derek - yes, the direct link with Madeira makes a great deal of sense. And of course Madeira was common in the Caribbean as well as the American colonies. I suppose I was more interested in the secondary links: how Porto became a 'staging post' rather than a point in the Triangle in its own right.

André - thanks for those links. I'm familiar with the workings of the Triangle Trade but will check these references. I have a feeling that details of the place of Port / Porto in this would require some specialist historical knowledge. But the best work on the economics of this is often done by historians of slavery so these books may be a good place to find further references!

I've just ordered a copy of this. I will let you know if it sheds any light on the development of the trade.

DRT wrote:I've just ordered a copy of this. I will let you know if it sheds any light on the development of the trade.

Excellent! Thank you.

Some up to date references added in the Books about Port thread.