EUROPE INSIGHT
Legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Europe :
Time for a Continental Reckoning ?
Marie-Louise Jansen Director of Contested Histories Project Institute for Historical Justice & Reconciliation EuroClio – European Association of History Educators
A continent-wide conversation on slaveryera legacies and the impact it has had – and continues to have – on European societies today is long overdue .
In 2012 , the travel website Tripadvisor listed the Portuguese town of Lagos as the number one travel destination on a list of “ 15 destinations on the rise ” worldwide . Known for its beautiful beaches on the Atlantic coast in the Algarve region , the tranquil seaside town of 22,000 inhabitants is an ideal enclave for a pleasant holiday . What is less known is that , in 1444 , the Atlantic slave trade started in Lagos where enslaved Africans were bought and sold . 1
Over the next two centuries , other European ports – Lisbon , Seville , Cádiz , Nantes , Bordeaux , Liverpool , Amsterdam , to name a few – entered into an increasingly lucrative venture in what has come to be known as the “ triangular slave trade ”. A trans-Atlantic enterprise , it saw ships laden with finished goods depart from European ports for the African coast where their products – weapons , porcelain , cloth , etc .,– were traded for enslaved people . In turn , these people were then transported across the Atlantic to the Americas , where they were again exchanged , this time for raw materials – sugar , coffee ,
1
Although Portuguese ships first landed in Lagos , by the 1480s , Lisbon took fiscal control of the slave trade and , in 1512 , slave boats could only enter Portugal through the River Tejo into Lisbon . Estimates in the trans-Atlantic database indicate the number of enslaved Africans taken from Africa by European nations between the years 1501-1875 with Portugal / Brazil having the largest number of 5,848,266 . https :// www . slavevoyages . org / assessment / estimates It should also be noted that slavery was not abolished in Portugal and its colonies until 1869 .
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Observing Memories Issue 6