Bühnen, S. 1993 Ethnic Origins of Peruvian Slaves (1548-1650) - Figures For Upper Guinea

Ethnic Origins of Peruvian Slaves (1548-1650): Figures for Upper Guinea
Author(s): Stephan Bühnen

Source: Paideuma, Bd. 39 (1993), pp. 57-110
Published by: Frobenius Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40341657 .
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Paideuma39, 1993
ETHNIC ORIGINS OF PERUVIAN SLAVES (1548-1650):

FIGURES FOR UPPER GUINEA1
STEPHAN BUHNEN
As servants,artisans, andauxiliaries, slavesofAfricanoriginwereamongtheentourageof

theearly16thcentury conquistadores in theNew World.Fromtheverybeginningslaves
werealso set to workin agriculture, thisremainingtheirmajorrole duringsubsequent
centuries,particularly so aftertheinceptionof theplantationsystem.Fromtheirareas of
origin these slaves broughtwiththemtheirbeliefs,customs,languages,patternsof
behaviour, in
etc., short: theircultures.Thesediffered accordingtoethnicgroupandareaof
origin.Some of these elements of culture had to be shed,suchas language,othersmixed
withEuropean and Indian elements. Ethnic groupsgenerallysharea language,a territory,
anda setofculturaltraits.Membersmaybe detectedthrough theaffiliation
ofindividuals
by themselves and others,through their language, theirculture,and, geographically,
throughtheirterritory. The specificsocial,psychological, and otherfeaturesof African
slave populationsin theNew Worldresult,in part,fromspecificcircumstances in their
Africanareasoforigin.Knowledgeoftheseoriginscastslighton thedevelopment ofsuch
featuresof slave populations, butit also allows us to hazardconclusionsabouttheslave
tradeand thecircumstances in theAfricanareas oforigin,whichis whatI am concerned
withhere.
I wishto re-introduce historicalevidencefromtheAmericasfora comparatively early
periodofAfricanhistory. PhilipCurtin(1970: 96-103) and othershavepublishedfigures
abouttheethnicaffiliation ofAfricanslavesintheNew World.Sincethennewfiguresfor
theethnicaffiliation of slaves in Peruhave been published,providingus witha hitherto
undreamt-of wealth data whichpermitsus to paintnew,revised,and moredetailed
of
pictures ofhistoricalprocessesandtoarriveat moreprecisechronologies. Thesedatawere
publishedby Bowser (1974).
I have notcome across any analysisof thesefiguresforthebenefitof thehistoryof
AfricaandtheAtlanticandAfricanslavetrades.Withtheaimoffacilitating suchanalysis,
thisarticlere-introduces thealreadypublished material.I processthe data arithmetically
and presenttheresultsin graphs.Finally,I shalldrawsomeconclusionspertaining to the
history of UpperGuinea and the slave trade.
I confinemyself toslavesfromUpperGuinea,thisbeingtheAfricanregionI knowbest.
Slaveswerealso exportedtoPerufromotherpartsofAfrica:LowerGuinea,West-Central
Africaand South-EastAfrica.The ethnicgroupsand provenancesgivenby Bowserfor
theseregionsare: Terranova, Bleblo,Ararat Arda(actuallytwodistinct groups?),Caravali,
Mina,Lucumi,Congo,Mozambique, Anchico,Benguela,Angola,Abnga,MalambalMakm-
1 I owe thanksto MartinKlein,P.E.H. Hair,and Adam Jonesforcommentson earlyversionsofthispaper

and to Adam Jonesforhis toilsomeamendingof my English.

58 StephanBuhnen
ba, and Mosanga.If theArara and Arda are distinctgroups,the totalwould be thirty
provenancesforSub-SaharanAfrica,halfof them(fifteen)in UpperGuinea,theregion
fromthenorthbankofthemouthoftheRiverSenegalto Cape Mount(or Cape Palmas).
The administrationof Portuguesecommercein thisarea was conductedfromtheCape
VerdeIslands,whichis whytheregioncame to be knownas Guine do Cabo Verde.It
coversthemodernstatesof Senegal,The Gambia,Guinea-Bissau,SierraLeone,and the
westernhalfofGuinea,witha populationofpresently ca. sixteenmillion(fortyinhabitants
persquare kilometre).
The figuresforUpperGuineaarevaluable,becausetheyareparticularly differentiated,
as comparedto thoseforotherregions,owingto thehighdegreeofethnicvariety: Froma
coastlineofnotmorethanone thousandkilometres inlengthand a hinterland ofnotmore
thansomefewhundredkilometres indepthBowserlistsfifteen differentethnicorigins.He
does notmentionanyslavesfromwhatwas laterknownas theWindwardCoast,between
SierraLeone andGhana,theZape beingthesouthernmost UpperGuineaslavesoftheera.
35 slaves of Bowser'slist(22 plus 13 bozales) were,withoutfurther from
specification,
"Guinea".These are notincludedin thefigurespresentedand interpreted below.
WrittensourcesdealingwithAfricainformus about slaveryand the slave tradein

Africaand acrosstheAtlanticOcean, includingcrudeestimatesforthequantity ofslaves
exported. Cultural and
anthropology linguisticsattempt to uncover the ethnic rootsof
today's descendants of slaves in theAmericas. In areas of concentration of slaves ofone
ethnicgrouptheoriginof themajorityof thisgroupmightbe remembered overseveral
generationsof Portuguese, Spanish,British,or otheracculturation and thenameof that
ethnicgroupmightbe attachedtothisarea ofconcentration, suchas a barrio,orgivenas a
firstname to persons.Occasionallyslaves organisedthemselvesformallyalong ethnic
lines.2
Evidence which is richer,more contemporary, more detailed,more reliable,and
quantitative in naturemay be derived from archives containing documentsthatnamethe
origins of slaves.One of the few of
features slaves occasionallydocumentedin European
and Americanarchivesis theirethnicaffiliation, thesubject-matter of thisarticle.With
progressing publicationof relevantdocuments and listsofethnicorigins ofslave samples
we continueto learnabouttheethniccompositionofhistoricalslave populationsoutside
their Africanareas of origin.The sources are contemporaryarchival documents
registering commercial,testamentary and othertransactions concerningslaves.
"MostNegroslaveswentthrough lifewithnomorethana simpleChristian or
namelikePedro,Anton,
Catalina[. . .] Therewas a realneedforsurnames onlywhenfairlylargegroupsofNegroesworked
Inthesecases,African
together. orformer
ethnicnamesandtheslave'soccupations were
occupations
themostcommonsurnames.** (Lockhart1968: 176)
The practiceof givingtheprovenanceor theportof embarcationof theslave was not
uncommonin earlyrecordings, suchas in theValencia records(Teixeirada Mota 1979,
Cortes 1964). In otherdocuments,the customof givingsecond,distinguishing names
oftheslaveindividualprovidesus withcluestotheoriginof
based on theethnicaffiliation
2 Zape inSantoDomingoformed a confraternity in 1650

dedicatedtoMariaMagdalenaandmentioned
(LarrazabalBlanco1967:81).

EthnicOriginsofPeruvianSlaves( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea 59
theslave.Thisappliesnotonlyto slaves,whowerebornin Africa,butalso to thechildren

ofAfrica-born Some ofthemorecommonethnonymic
mothers. surnamescouldturninto
firstnames.
Itis the'ethnicnames',whichareofparticular
interest oftheslavetrade
tothehistorian
and of Africa.Lockhartwritesaboutthesenamesin archivaldocuments:
"Sales ofNegroslavesin the1530's hardlyevercontainedanyreference to place ofbirthor ethnic

origin.Butearlyinthedecadeofthe1540's,buyers andsellersstarted
payingirregular tothe
attention
ethnic-geographicoriginofslaves,whichtheythought ofas theAfricans'
'country' ornacion,a
(tierra)
looseandgeneraltermwithseveralmeanings: nation,race,or tribe.Fromthelate 1540'son,
birth,
referenceto originwas a quiteregularpartofthedescriptionofNegroslaves,omitted onlythrough
neglectorforlackofinformation. Nothing indicates,
however, thattheSpaniards as yetattachedgreat
economicimportance pricesdidnotvarydiscernibly
to slaves'origins; withethnicgroup."(Lockhart
1968: 172)
Thus,fromthelate 1540s onwards,we possessfairlyextensiveevidencefortheethnic

provenanceofslaves,at leasttothemid-17thcentury. Itderivesfrompublications dealing
withtheslave populationin different regions of the New World.
Severalauthorshaveanalysedandinterpreted thisevidence.A majorobstaclehas been
and willcontinueto be theidentification of ethnonyms and anthroponyms. A greatstep
forward intheidentificationofethnonyms was AguirreBeltran'sbook(1972) on theblack
populationofMexico,first publishedin 1946. PhilipCurtinwas thefirst scholarwhotried
to arriveat relativeand absolutefiguresfortheethniccompositionof theslave exports
from Africa (1970: 96-103). He based his calculations on samples from Peru
( 1548- 1560) andMexico( 1549 andtheendofthe17thcentury) of207,83, and402 slaves
respectively. While Curtin was mainly concerned with the numbers of slaves displaying
different ethnonyms, P.E.H. Hair (1980) identified several itemsof onomastic materialin
theValenciarecordsof 1482-1516, an earlyperiodnotproviding significant
statistically
data to allow fora quantitative analysisof ethnonyms.
American,European,and Africanarchivescontaindocumentswith slave names,
mainlypertaining to changesofownership. Duringcertainperiodsthesenamesincludea
fairnumberof ethnonymic and toponymicsurnames.Most of thesedocumentsremain
untapped.Butin 1974 FrederickBowserpublishedlistsoftheethnicaffiliation ofno less
than7,558 Peruvianslaveswithknownprovenances fortwenty from
periods 1560 to 1650
(1974: 40-43). His book about African slaves in Peru, based on extensivework in archives
ofSeville,Madrid,Lisbon,and Lima,deals withtheprovenanceofslavesonlyin passing.
Yet,he has unearthed treasures ofquantitative materialon ethnicaffiliation fora periodof
ninetyyears. Historians of theslave trade and of Africa are indebtedto Bowser.
I first
re-introduceBowser'smaterialforUpperGuinea,secondlyprocessthefiguresto
arriveat comparativedata fordiachronicinterpretation (includinggraphicalrenditions),
thirdly testthedegree of correlationbetween changes thesefiguresand eventsknown
in
fromotherwrittensources,and finallyattemptan historicalinterpretation of selected
features.
I reproducepartofBowser'sTables 1 ("EthnicOriginsofAfro-Peruvians, 1560-1650")
and 2 ("EthnicOriginsof PeruvianBozales, 1560-1650") and add a sample of 162
Peruvianslaves of UpperGuineanoriginfrom1548-60, publishedby JamesLockhart
(1968: 176) and based on similardocumentation. Bowser's and Lockhart'slists are

60 StephanBuhnen
secondarysources.I have nothad a chanceto checkthereliability ofthelists,nordidthe

authorsgive detailedinformation abouttheirapproachesand thedocuments.Hence we
have to relyon theirdeciphering of names,theiridentifications of ethnonyms, and their
arithmetic.Ourlimitedpossibilities ofscrutiny lessenthevalueofthelists.Buttworeasons
have enticedme to disregardthesereservations and republishpartsof thelists.Firstly,
thereis, forthenearfuture, littleprospectof individualresearchers bridgingthedepart-
mental,andoftenspatial,gulfbetweenhistorians ofAmericaandofAfricaandproducing
materialwitha higherstandardof presentation. And secondlyBowser'sfiguresseem to
have eludedtheattention of Africanists.3
The figuresneedtobe critically seen,bothincontemporary perspectiveand intheway
they have been (re)producedby Bowser and Lockhart.
As remarkedabove, littleis knownabout the archivalbackgroundof Bowser'sand
Lockhart'slists.Butwhatrendersthefigures passablyreliableis thattheyarecomposedof
a multitudeof singleentriesof individualslaves or small groupsrecordingchangesin
ownership, marriages,etc. These were nevermeantto be used forstatisticalpurposes.
Censusesand otherstatistics of similartype(suchas tradelicencesissuedbytheSpanish
crown)tendtobe biasedthrough theaimsofthosewhoorganisea census,andthrough the
behaviourof thosecounted,who mayfeeltheirinterests being affected.
An additionalvaluableproperty ofthefigures, origin,is the
besidetheirnon-statistical
objective reflectionof a slave population at their The
destination. figuresconvey neither
officialpolicies regardingthe slave tradenor the narrowperspectiveof rare and im-
pressionisticestimatesoftraderson theAfricancoast,butratherdrawa statistically fairly
reliablepictureoftheactualcomposition oftheslavepopulation, whichwas,ofcourse,the
resultof thecompositionof slave importsfromAfrica.
The ethnonyms may be consideredfairlyauthentic.Ethnonymic appellationswere
chieflygiven for the purpose ofdistinction.They did notgenerallyconnote otherimplica-
tionsrendering themsubjectto bias,at leastnotduringan era whenethnicaffiliation did
notyetresultindifferences ofvalueofslavesas expressedinprices(Lockhart1968: 173).
Several reasons lead me to believe in a contemporary abilityof attaching'correct'
ethnonymic surnamesto individualslaves.4The numberof the more frequentethnic
identitiespresentwas limited.Slaves werecertainly capable,intheircommunication with
fellowslavesandowners,tosortoutdifferent provenances, as mayhavebeentheirowners,
whomI expecttohavereliedon thelabelsgiventoslavesbythemselves andbytheirfellow
slaves.Also,I wouldnotunderestimate theexperienceof slave tradersand ownerswith
their'commodity'and 'property', which,by the mid-16thcentury, had lasted several
decades.Of course,inthecase ofa memberofan ethnicgroupwhichwas rareamongthe
slave populationor ofcomparatively low reputation amongfellowslaves,he or she may
have adoptedtheidentity of a differentgroup,on conditionthattheindividualspokeits
languageand knewitscustoms.This may,forexample,have been thecase withthefew
Balanta in earlypopulations,who may have identifiedthemselvesas (neighbouring)
Biafara,Bran,Casanga, or Mandinga.
3 Withtheexception ofHair 1980: 126, 129.

4 In thisassessment
I disagreewithWolff1964: 180.

EthnicOriginsof PeruvianSlaves ( 1548-1 650): Figures forUpper Guinea 61
The Peruvianfiguresdo notrepresent or even crudelyreflectabsoluteexportfigures

fromAfricato Peru.Theyare, albeitlarge,samples.And theyreflectthechangein the
ethniccompositionof the slave populationduringeach period,but onlyindirectly the
change in the composition of Peruvian slave imports.Thus, among the sample of 188
slavesofknownethnicaffiliation in 1585 theremayhavebeenslavesimported up to fifty
years earlier
as well as recently imported slaves But
(bozales). givena low rateofbiological
slavereproduction anda lowlifeexpectancy, changesinthecomposition ofimports would
rapidly alter the composition of the slave population. Hence, the compositionof the
population reflects the composition of the slave imports, though only crudelyand
indirectly,and with a (fairlyshort) delay.
The ethniccompositionseems notto have been affectedby fluctuations in thetotal
numberofslavesimported. This assumptionis based on theobservation ofsteadyshares,
as in thecase of theMandingaand theCasanga.
The figuresdo notcoverall years:thereare nonefor1563, 1567,1574, 1583-84, and
1586-88. And theperiodscoverspansof different lengths,thelongestbeing 1548-60.
Thislengthhas tobe takenintoaccountwheninterpreting changesinethniccomposition:
ThedropintheJolofosharesfrom1548-60 to 1560-62 (from27.8percentto6.3 percent)
wouldappeara littleless spectacularifseenovera seriesoffivethree-year periodsfrom
1548 to 1562. AndBowser'speriodisation from1595 to 1650 consistsoffive-year leaps,
leavingitto thereaderto decidewhether theyearsgivenare meantto be samplesorto be
agglomeratesof periodsrepresented bythe'central'yearsgiven.It shouldalso be noted
thatnotall periodsareevenlydistributed chronologically. Thispertainsparticularly to the
periods 1578-79 and 1580-82, coveringonly fiveyears (1578-82).
Before1560 slavesdid notordinarily reachPeruin completeshiploadsdirectly from
Africa.Rather,portsin theCaribbeanregionwere thedestinations of such transports.
Fromthere,slaves
"gotto Perubymiscellaneousand variousmeans,as theSpaniardsthemselvesdid. Many Negroescame

withtheirpermanentowners,or withSpaniardswho,as a sideline,werespeculatingon thesale oftwoor
threeslaves. Small privateactivitymayhave accountedforas manyNegroes as themoreor less official
tradecarriedon by large merchants."(Lockhart 1968: 176-77)
This processresulted,at least forthe earlierarrivals,in a thoroughmix of slaves,

enhancingtherepresentativity ofthecomposition evenofsmallnumbersofslavesowned
byindividual Spaniards in Peru. It also provides a representativity
for ofthecomposition of
thePeruvianslave populationforthecompositionin theAmericasin general.A second
featurecausedbytheresaleintheCaribbeanand thetransport fromthereto Peruwas the
of
delay changes in the composition of thePeruvian slaves.This mightexplainthehigh
percentage of Bran slaves in the Mexican sample of 1549 (29.9 percent),onlyattainedin
Peruin 1560-62 (32.8 percentas against14.2percentin 1548-60), thoughthesharemay
have alreadybeen hightowardstheend of thelongperiod1548-60.
Despitethesample'sgreatnumberof slavesof UpperGuineanorigin(4,697) and the
ensuinghighdegreeofrepresentativity, forcertainperiodsandethnicgroupsonlyverylow
figuresare available:the totalsfor the periods1578-79, 1580-82, 1645,and 1650 are all
below 100. Ifwe takethefigureof 1650 fortheBafiolorZape withonlyonepersoneach,it
becomesevidentthatan additionalpersonwoulddoublethepercentagefrom2.3 percent

62 StephanBuhnen
to 4.6 percent.For suchperiodsand ethnicgroups,statistical significanceis reduced,but

notvoid.On thewholeand in theabsenceofmoredetailedand unbiaseddata,thefigures
are mostvaluable,a luckyquantitative windfallforthehistoryof Africaand theslave
trade.
To summarise:both internallogic and statisticallogic providefora certainrepre-
sentativityofthesamplesofBowser'sandLockhart'speriods.The changeinexportfigures
of slaves of different ethnicaffiliationhad to affecttheethniccompositionof theslave
population in the import areas in Europeand theAmericas,and thesize and natureofthe
sample provide for a fairlyhighdegreeof statisticalsignificance. In my view,totally
discarding the figures on the grounds of deficiencies
statistical would amount to
hypercriticism. Rather, we should content
ourselves withwhat can be expected
realistically
fromhistoricalsourcesand realisethatthelistspresentus witha treasureofindependent
and fairlyreliableevidence.As I see it,themajordeficiency of thedata is nota lack of
and internallogic,buta low standardofpresentation
statistical anddocumentation ofthe
primary material by Bowser and Lockhart,a problem also encountered by Hair (1980,
130) in interpreting Cortes'data.
Having accepted the Peruvianfiguresas statistically significant,I proceedto their

interpretation.The majorobstacleis theirnatureas relativefigures;theydo notconvey
changesin absolutefiguresof slave exportsfromAfrica.Despite all reservations, the
Peruviansamplesrevealpatternsof changethatreflectknownhistoricalprocesses(see
below) and thusseemto be reasonablyrepresentative ofthegeneralcomposition ofslave
shipmentsfromAfrica.It followsthatthe samples permithistoricalinterpretation of
dramatic(and sometimeseven moresubtle)changesin theircomposition.
In Tables la and 2a I reproducethe absolutefiguresof Bowser'sPeruviansamples.
Tables lb and2b givethepercentages ofthetotalofUpperGuineaslaves,as calculatedby
me. Table 3a givestheagglomeratetotals(absolutenumbers)of Tables la and 2a, plus
Lockhart'slistforthe 1548-60 period.Table 3b givesthecorresponding percentagesper
period.These latterpercentagesare illustrated in thegraphs(Fig.l).
The percentages I have arrivedat areroundedup to thenearesttenthofa percent.The
decimalsare notintendedtocreatethesemblanceofaccuracy,butareemployedto arrive
at totalsclose or equal to one hundredpercent.
The sheernumberof slaves, between43 and 518 foreach of the twentyperiods
(Table 3a), multipliesthestatistical
significanceattainedin calculationsbased on smaller
samplespublishedearlier(Curtin1970: 96-103).
fromOtherSamples
Confirmation
The Peruviansharesof individualethnicgroupsare confirmed by samplesfromother

(Tables4 and5). We maynotethefollowing
countries thesmallsamplesfrom
similarities:
SantoDomingo,Cuba, and theCape VerdianislandofSantiagoall displayhighquotafor
theBranand Zape, mostof themalso fortheBiafara.The earliersamplesdisplayhigh
quotasfortheJolofo,too.NoneoftheearliersamplescontainsBioho,BalantaandFolupo.

OriginsofPeruvianSlaves( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea
,,Ethnic 63
The fairlylargeMexicansampleof 1549 (Table 4) differs fromtheperiod1548-60 inthe

Perusample(Table 3b) onlyin itsconsiderably highershareof Branand lowershareof
Biafara,butbothoutnumber all otherethnicgroups,as theydo in mostsamples.Andthe
earliestsampleofseveralAfricanslavesofknownethnicoriginI havecomeacross,which
All samplesdisplaya veryhighshare
datesfrom1547 (Table 5), is also notcontradictory.
ofBranslaves,onlyoccasionallysurpassedor equalisedbytheZape. Low figuresofFula
are also corroboratedby the different samplesof comparison.And none of the 16th
century samplescontainsFolupo, Balanta,andSoso,absentalso fromthepre-1589 figures
inthePeruviansample.The substantial numbersofJolofoduringthisearlyperiodare also
confirmed.5
Bozales
In contemporary Spanish and Portuguesebozales designatedunacculturatedslaves

withoutknowledgeof theselanguages.6The Peruviandocumentsmentionsuchbozales.
As newarrivalsfromAfricatheyareofinterest forourpurpose,thestatistical examination
of changesin theethniccompositionof slave exportsfromAfrica.As we knownothing
about potentialchangesover time in the rigidityof applyingthe term,thereis little
significancein the percentagesof bozales among the general slave population.But
assumingthatin a givenperiodthissemanticrigidityremainedfairlyunchanged,the
percentages ofindividualethnicgroupsamongthebozalescouldprovidea cluetothelevel
of recentimportsof suchslaves.
1,368 or 31 per centof all 4,427 slaves of UpperGuineanoriginin the 1560-1640
periodweretermedbozales.Thislargeshareconfirms thegrowthoftheslavepopulation
through slave I in
imports.present, Figure 2, a comparisonofthepercentagesof'normal'
and bozales slaves with regard to those periods and ethnicgroups which provide
statistically
significant numbers.
2
Figure displays a non-uniform picture.As one wouldexpect,theproportion ofbozales
generally oscillates more widelythan thatof 'normal' slaves. But not all ethnicgroups
adhere to our expectationthat bozales should appear beforethe first'normal' (i.e.
acculturated)slaves(as theFolupo did,buttheBalanta and Jolofodid not)and thatany
changesintheproportion of'normal'slavesshouldbe precededbycorresponding changes
intheproportion ofthebozales.In somecases theproportion changesintheexpectedway:
The above-averageproportionof the Bran bozales between 1585 and 1595 results,
subsequently, in an increasingproportion ofBranslavesamongtheUpperGuineaslaves.
Andtheabove-averageNalu bozalesproportion of 1615 resultsinan increaseof'normal'
Nalu slavesin 1620. Butinothercases theproportions do notchangeintheexpectedway:
A rapidlyincreasingproportion of Folupo bozales in 1615 precedesa decrease in the
proportion of'normal'Foluposlavesin 1620. The generalpictureis this:theproportion of
bozales and 'normal'slaves does not displaya significant correlationof the expected
5 Theearlynumericalpredominance ofJolofo byWolff

isconfirmed (1964: 181) andbytheprohibition
uponimporting "yolofes"intoSantoDomingowithout permitafterthefirstslave revoltin 1523
(LarrazabalBlanco1967:81).
6 Lockhart1968: 175-176;Sandoval1627:58v-59

64 StephanBuhnen
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EthnicOriginsofPeruvianSlaves(1548-1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea 69
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70 StephanBiihnen
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Fig. 1: EthnicProportions
inthePeruvianSlavePopulation

Slaves( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea
EthnicOriginsofPeruvian 71
58-i -
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72 StephanBuhnen
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Fig.2: 'Normal'SlavesandBozales

Table4: SampleofUpperGuineaSlaves,Mexico1549
Bran Biafara Berbesi Gelofe MandingaBanol Cazanga Zape Tucuxuy total

23 14 6 14 9 5 1 4 1 77
% 29.9 18.2 7.8 18.1 11.7 6.5 1.3 5.2 1.3 100
Source:SlavesofHernando inTlaltenango
Cortes'sugar-refinery Beltran1972:240).
(Aguirre
Table 5: SampleofUpperGuineaSlaves
6 Bran 1 (or4) Bran 3 Bran 5 Bran 3 Bran 3 Brdmes (Bran)

1 Biafara 1 Viafara 5 Biafara 6 braffaral 2 Biafara 1 Bigao(Bran)
2 Jolofe 2 Jolofo 1 Cape(Zape) viaffara 1 Mandinga 2 Beafares
2 Mandinga 1 Nolu(Nalu) 4 Mandinga 1 Bioho 1 Fula
1 Banol 1 Casanga 2 cazargal 1 Balanta
6 Zape 4 Zape casuanga 2 Sossos
1 Gambit 1 /aw/a(Fula) 6 Sapes
1 V/oc/io(Bioho)
8 Zape
SantoDomingo Cuba Colombia SantoDomingo Colombia Cape VerdeIs.

1547 1570 1589 1600s 1607 1624
Sources:
SantoDomingo, 1547:Thesugar-refinery ofoneHernando GorjoninAzuawasauctioned off.Namesand
professions of 37 slaveswerementioned in thedocuments concerned (in Clio,8 [1948], accordingto
LarrazabalBlanco1967: 8 1. On page82 hepublished thelistofslaves).Ofthese37,32 bearappellations
basedonethnonyms andprovenances. Ofthese32, 18 areofcertainandoneisofpossibleUpperGuinean
origin.ThepossibleUpperGuineanisone"Gambu",perhapsnamedafter thehistorical Mandingastateof
KabubetweentheRiverGambiaandtheupperRio Corubal(Buhnen1992:sectionIX). "Gambu"might
also be a misreading oftheverycommonname"Gomba"(cf.note12).
Cuba,1570:Documents publishedbyPerezBeato 1910: 113, 154-5,38. The threedocuments mention
31,8, and 13 slaves,severalofthemintwoorall threedocuments. Altogether, between38 and41 slave
individuals arenamed(somemaybe identical, e.g."Antonzape"= "AntonSardo"?).Outofthisnumber,
23 areonlymentioned nameor are termed
withtheirfirst "criollo".Of theremaining 19 thereareone
"Yarn"andfive"Congo".The abovelistcontainsthe13 slaveswithethnonymic appellations forUpper
Guinea.ThreeBrandaughters andsonsofa Branmother areaddedinbrackets, as itis notclearwhether
theyhadcomefrom Africawiththeirmother orweretermed Branbecauseoftheirmother's ethnicorigin.
Colombia, 1589 and160 7:Documents relating in1589 anda salein1607(Pavy1967:
toslave-trafficking
41-42). I presenta "Biofo"foundinthe1607 sample,whichI believetobe a misreading as
or misprint,
Bioho.
SantoDomingo, 1600s:Documents relatingtoa rebellion
ofthegeneralpopulation, initialyearsofthe17th
century (LarrazabalBlanco1967:82-83).
Cape VerdeIslands,1624:LastwillofDiogo XimenesVargasofSantiago,dated4 June1624 (Carreira:
1983,46). Ethnonyms andprovenances as foundinCarreira.

74 Buhnen
Stephan
(delayed) type,but rathera high degree of simultaneouscorrelation;wheneverthe

proportion ofone typeof slave changes,a concurrentchangeofpercentagesoftheother
type of slave is to be observed.Also, thepercentages bozalesand 'normal'slaves are
for
generally of the same orderof magnitude.
For purposesof calculation(in orderto arriveat a widernumericalbasis forper-
centages)I have addedthebozalesto the'normal'slavesinTables3a and 3b. The general
similarity of thepercentagesof bozales and thoseof 'normal'slaves,whichI havejust
described,permitsthisprocedure.
Table 6: Slave Samples fromAfricaand fromUpper Guinea (includingBozales)
Africa UpperGuinea Africa UpperGuinea

% %
1548-60 207 162 78.3 1605 473 343 72.5

1560-62 158 128 81.0 1610 316 216 68.4
1564-66 174 142 81.6 1615 309 189 61.2
1568-73 179 139 77.7 1620 891 518 58.1
1575-77 130 107 82.3 1625 848 451 53.2
1578-79 93 73 78.5 1630 687 414 60.3
1580-82 111 93 83.8 1635 957 499 52.1
1585 188 151 80.3 1640 480 222 46.3
1589-91 291 234 80.4 1645 167 65 38.9
1595 579 312 53.9 1650 138 43 31.2
1600 389 196 50.4
Sources:
Lockhart
andBowser
188-t 1
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ON>0«N^NiO'-WOlOOiOOWOWOW)0
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101212i2 £ i2 ^ 52
Fig. 3: Slaves fromUpper Guinea as a Percentageof All Slaves fromAfrica

TheShareof UpperGuineanSlavesamongthePeruvianSlavePopulation
Between1548 and 1591 slaves fromUpperGuinea made up around80 per centof all
Peruvianslaves of Africanorigin.The respectivefiguresin a Mexican sampleof 1549
confirmthe highcontribution (Table 5): out of a totalof 82 slaves of Africanorigin
(excluding "criollos") 77 or 93.7 percentwerefromUpperGuinea7.And "Of the6884
slaves said to have been imported(at theColombianportof Cartagena,S.B.) between
1585 and 1590,all but507 originated fromtheUpperGuineaCoast"(Rodney1965:313),
thatis 7.4 per cent.The abruptdecrease in the percentagefor 1595 is due to a sharp
increaseinslaveexportsfromAngola.8Withthelatters'regression from1605 to 1615 the
Upper Guinean share again rises. But from 1610 onwards the Upper Guinean share
decreasedagain,and in 1650 onlyeverythirdslave fromAfricawas of UpperGuinean
origin.Thisdevelopment was caused mainlybya steadyincreasein thenumberofslaves
fromcentralandsouthern Africa,whomadeuphalfofall Peruvianslavesby 1640. Itis not
possible,from thePeruvian percentages, to infera changein absolutenumbersofimports
ofUpperGuineanslaves.
Ethnonyms9
This is nottheplace to dwell on the notionof ethnicity. Sufficeit to statethat,in our

context, ethnic surnames permitus to locate slaves' ethnicand spatialorigins.
The ethnonyms foundin Bowser'sand Lockhart'slistshave passed severalfiltersof
classification: thoseof thedocumentary
first, sourcesreflectingperceptions and conven-
tionsoftheslave-traders, theslaveowners,and theslavesthemselves, and secondlythose
of themodern-day analystsof theprimary documents, who have publishedthelistsand
made choicesof identification and spelling,and on whomwe have to rely.
Someethnonyms, thedesignations ofethnicgroups,arederivedfromnamesofstatesor
regions,as in the case oftheJolofo and theMandinga.In sourcesofthe16thcentury, the
latterwas used as a regionalnamedenotingall thelandsunderdirectinfluenceof Mali,
mainlythe riverainstates along the Gambia. This toponymwas derivedfromthe
ethnonym Mandenga/Mandinka ('personofMande'),whichin turnwas derivedfromthe
nameoftheMande(ng)regionon theleftbankoftheNiger,southwest ofBamako,possibly
thenucleusof theMali empire.
Earlyrecordsof sale rarelygive exact ethnicprovenances.The veryearlyValencia
recordsgenerallycontainonlycruderegionsoforigin,suchas GuineandJalof,and later,
fromthe 1490s onwards,Mandega.Up to the mid-1490s theydo notname theethnic
7 AguirreBeltran1972:240. Cf.Curtin1970:96-101.
8 Wolffconfirms slavesfromAngolareachedtheAudienciaofCharcasinUpperPeru
thedate:Thefirst
modernBolivia)after1594 (1964: 181).
(roughly
9 Foran extensivesurveyofethnolinguistic
groupscf.Hair 1967a, 1967b,1968,andCarreira1964.

76 StephanBiihnen
groupof the slave, but the regionof origin,followingthe contemporary Portuguese

nomenclature. The Portugueseofthelate 15thand early16thcentury onlydifferentiated,
forroughgeographicalendsandbasedon roughpoliticalandculturalaffiliations, between
Jabfforall ofnorthern Upper Guinea, Mandega forcentralUpper Guinea (from thenorth
bankofRiverGambia to theRio Sao Domingos/RioCacheu or evento theBiafaralands
alongRio Geba),10andSape forsouthern UpperGuinea(fromtheCocoli toSierraLeone).
This is reflectedin theCantinoMap of 1502 mentioning "slaves,some are Jelof,some
Mandinga,some Cape".11 Althoughthisremark(erroneously)concernedonly Sierra
Leone,itbetraysthecontemporary geographicalterminology forUpperGuinea.As lateas
1502,/tf/o/was usedinan evenwidersenseforan area southoftheGambia,as reflected in
a documentof sale of one "Zamba,de 27 anos,de Banul,Jalof".12 The Banul/Banolare
livingsouthof theGambia,hence in whatby 1502 had generallybecome Mandegain
Portuguesegeography.
Thereare ethnonyms and provenancesnotidentified bytheAmericanist publishersof
thelistsand notappearingintheethnonymic slavelistsofPeru.LarrazabalBlanconames
denominations appearinginSantoDomingodocuments(LarrazabalBlanco 1967: 75), of
whichseveraldo notrecurin thelistsofBowserand others.Amongthemare sambtiand
gambiideguinea.PerhapssambiidesignatedtheSumba,called"Samboses"bytheEnglish
in 1564, an alternativenameoftheMane or thepeople subjugatedbythem.13 The Mane
werea groupofwarriors fromMali conqueringtheZape inthemiddleofthe16thcentury.
An identity of sambu withthe lineage name Sambu,currentin centralUpperGuinea,
seemsimprobable,as lineagenamesdo notappearto have been used as designations of
slavesinPeru(thoughtheyoccasionallywereintheValenciarecords).Gambiimayeither
be a misspellingor misreadingof sambuor referto a MandingafromKabu, "GambiT
beingan earlynamefortheRiverGambia and thepolityKabu (Biihnen1992: 71-2).
Some of the ethnonyms encounteredin the Peruvianlistsfrom1548 onwardshad
alreadyappeared in earlierdocuments pertaining to thesale of slavesin Valencia,which
occasionallygave provenances. The earliest
recordings areas follows:in 1457 slavesfrom
10 Sao Domingos:A documentof 1526 in Teixeirada Mota 1969b:546, 568. ValentimFernandes

mentioned the(Biafara)kingson the"RyoGrande"(here:Rio Geba) as subordinate to thekingof
Manding(Mali):Fernandes1951:74.
11 Hair1967b:67n64,Hair1980: 130. Fernandes detmed"Joloras northern
explicitly Senegambia: He
namedthe"Barbacijs"(Berbesin)and"Tucurooes" as peopleslivingin"Gyloffa"
(Toucouleur) besides
theJolofo,"butall areGyloffes"
(1951: 6).
12 Cortes1964:310.Theordinalfirst nameSambawasfrequent inUpperGuineaandtheWestSudan.It
denotesthesecondson.Kumbaistheanalogousnamefortheseconddaughter, butitwasalsousedina
widersense,whichmusthavemadeitsucha current slavenameintheValenciarecords (cf.Hair1980:
123, 131):MandingaandJolof "combe?for"Dame,madame"inAvezac1845:222.Thiswordlistwas
compiledbyLa Courbeinthelate 17thcentury, whosemanuscript noteda dictionarytobe published
later(inLabat'splagiarism:
1728,vol.5: 49). La Courbe'smanuscriptplagiarisedbyLabatwasmore
extensivethantheextantversionpublished1913.
13 Hair'snotesonAlvaresde Almada(1984/86,ch.16/2).Earliestidentification ofSumbawithManeby
Alvaresde Almada1964: 130.

1491 de Mantingua}5in 1497 de Sapi (or Capi,theClackinga cedilla),in 1502

Jaloff,l4in
de Bahul,in 1506 de Gogoli,in 1514 de Barbexi,and in 1515 de Brafara.16
This
chronologicalorderofslavesofdifferent ethnicoriginentering
theAtlantictradefitswell
withFernandes'information fortheearly1500s,whichreferred toonlythefirstthreeand
theBiafaraas sellingslavesto thePortuguese.17 Butwe mayassumethatslaveswerealso
boughtat Sao Domingos(Banol) and in Kasa (Casanga), because Fernandesmentioned
residentPortuguesemerchantsthereand because Fernandes'informant did not con-
centrateon theslavetrade,as hiscontemporary Pacheco Perreiradid,whorelatedbarter
pointsof thecoast. Accordingto thelatter,slaves were also
ratesof slaves at different
bought from the Berbesi,
Cocoli, Biafara,Casanga and/orBanol.18
Significantly,neitherFernandes and Pacheco Perreiranorthepre-1517 Valenciaslave
recordsmentionBranslaves,who laterfigureso prominently in theNew World.Other
ethnicgroupsnotencountered in thepre-1517 Valencia recordsare Nalu, Fula, Bioho,
Casanga, Folupo,Balanta,and Soso. This is in line withthePeruvianevidence:Folupo,
Balanta,and Soso onlymake theirappearancein thelate 16thcentury, Bioho and Nalu
werenotpresentin Perubefore1560, and Fula weregenerallyscarce amongtheslave
population.Because of a strongMandingainfluencein Kasa, exertedby the powerful
neighbourBirasuand by Mandingamaraboutsand reflectedin bilingualism(Casanga/
Mandinga),Casanga wereerroneously consideredMandingain sourcesof the 1500s19
and onlyappearas Casanga in 1549 (Table 5). Soso mayhave been presentamongpre-
1548 slaves,ifmyidentification of Soso with"CaxiVSaxi" (see below) is correct.
Due to shifts oftraderoutesand namingconventions someUpperGuineaprovenances
werementioned intheValenciarecordsbutdid notrecurinthePerulists,amongthemde
14 Teixeirada Mota 1979: 198

15 SlavesfromthebanksoftheGambiahad enteredtheAtlantic slavetradeearlier,beforetheera of
ethnicspecification beginning in c. 1490. Thus,documents of 1476 statethatAndalucianshad
kidnapped the"kingofGambia"or"Guinea"and140ofhis"relatives anddependants" (inBlake1941:
212-217).Thiskinghadhad"frequent withthePortuguese,
traffic towhomhebartered hisprisoners
ofwarfortrifles"(ibid.:216). EarlyEuropeanstradedinKantoraandNiumi.Thekingmayhavebeen
fromeither ofthetwo.As Kantora'smainitemoftrade, gold,wasnotmentioned, the"kingofGambia/
Guinea"mayhavebeentheKingofNiumi.A secondpieceofevidencepointstoNiumias theearly
provenance ofMandingaslaves:"Jame"and"Jasi", theonlynamesmentioned forMandingaslavesin
theValenciarecords(Cortes1964: 450-51, for1514/15),are lineagenamesmuchmorefrequent
alongthelowerGambia(whereNiumiislocated)thanalongtheuppercourseofthenavigableGambia
(whereKantorais located).
16 Recordings intheslaveregisters of 1491-1515:Cortes1964:passim.Cf.Hair19S0:passim.Teixeira
da Mota mentioned "Gogoli"as beingdocumented in an (unnamed)Iberianslaveregister of 1495
(1969a: 810). Zape slavesmusthaveentered theAtlantictradeduring orbeforethereignofJoaoII of
Portugal (1481-95),whohada fortconstructed intheSierraLeonearea(PachecoPereira1956:80).
17 Fernandes1951:8 (Jolofo), 43 (Mandinga),74 (Biafara),76 (Zape)
18 PachecoPereira1956:60, 68 (on RiverCasamance,mostprobably in Kasa's capitalBrikama),72.
PachecoPereira'sinformation mayhaverelatedto earlieryearsthanFernandes', as he mentioned
Sao DomingosnorCacheu(as Fernandes
neither did).
19 Marabouts inKasa: Alvaresde Almada1964:69. Kasa s inhabitants Mandinga: Fernandes1951:58,
PachecoPereira1956:68. In myinterpretation ofthe"Mandinga" ofKasa beingCasanga,I disagree
withJeanBoulegue,who has ventured thehypothesis thateithera Mandingadynasty had been
replacedbya Casangadynasty, or"unclanmalinke, apresavoirfondele royaume, s'estprogressive-
mentassimilea la population locale"(Boulegue1980:482).

78 StephanBuhnen
Cabo ( 1500), deJafara( 1509), de Balangua( 15 13), andde Gambe(1516). Cabo mightbe
thestateofKabu. Jafaracouldbe thelandofthesouthern Banol on theRio Cacheu,then
called"Jaffada" inthelocal language.20 The soundsd and(rolled)rare homo-organic, i.e.
thesimilarity of thepositionof soundproducingorgans(lips,tongue,etc.) rendersthem
interchangeable. AndthenamesofJafaraslaves'sound'Banol (because oftheâ-prefix).
Especially"Jagal"and "Jagle"(also encountered amongone of theCogoli slaves in the
samelot:a writer's error?)couldbe therarelineagenameJagel,whichI haveencountered
onlyintheSao Domingosarea.The Balanguaprobablywas one ofFernandes'"Balangas"
(1951: 58), oftenmistakenforBalanta,butmostlikelydenotinginhabitants of theeast
bank of theupperMarigotde Baila, a northern tributaryof thelowerCasamance. This
locationis consistentwithFernandes'description. The Bala area northof thesame may
have been thehomeof thisslave. 'Bala' plus theMandingaaffiliative suffix-ngaforms
Balanga: 'personof Bala'. The name sharesa purelylocativemeaningwiththatof the
Jabundosmentionedby Alvaresde Almada nearlya centurylater(1964: 60-1). These
wereprobablytheinhabitants ofTiobon(as itis spelttoday)in modernBuluf,also neara
majornavigablemarigot branching offthelowerCasamance,andactuallyenroutetoBala.
The Portugueseboughtprovisionsfromthe Balangas, and probablyalso fromthe
Jabundos.WhetherBalangas and Jabundoswereethnicgroupsis notclear.Alvaresde
Almada'sindication thatJabundosspokeBanolandcommunicated withtheCasanga,is of
littlevalue foridentification,because such information generallypertainedto multi-
lingualism.The BalangasmusthavebeeneitherFolupoorBanol,althoughtheirinterest in
trade,theirMandinga-typehouses, and the institution of kingshipsuggesta Banol
The slave de Gambemayhave been fromKabu or theGambia.
identity.21
Two ethnonyms appearseveraltimesintheValenciarecords,bothfirst for1495: Caxil
Saxi/Saxe/Sexi and Jalonga.The latteris themodernJalonke('personfromJalo(n)',the
FutaJalon),possiblyincludingtheSusu (who speaka dialectofthesamelanguage:Susu/
Jalonke).The CaxilSaxietc. do notappearin othersources.The Caxi variantobviously
lacksthecedillainferred fromthevariantswithan initialS. Thiswas a relatively frequent
convention incontemporary writing (cf.Sapi/Capiabove) andseemstoruleagainstHair's
identificationof Caxi (or,correctly,*Qaxi) withtheRio Case, themodernriverScarcies,
and thuswiththeTemne/Sapl.22 In theabsence of a betterexplanationI would,on the
groundsof phoneticsimilarity,23 venturean identification of Saxi with Susu. This
speculationis substantiated by thenameof one slave,"Jalonga,de Caxi",whichI would
interpretas "JalonkefromSusu"(unliketheethnonym Jalonke,Susuwas also a toponym).
The JalonkeandtheSusu wereseparatedonlybytheestablishment oftheFula intheFuta
20 Fernandes1951:68. P.E.H.Hairwas thefirst to suggestthisidentification(1980: Table 1).

2 1 In general,Folupodid notengagein theslavetrade,as confirmed byAlvaresde Almada'sremark
aboutthe"Arriatas" incoastalKombo(1964: 61-2). The "Arriatas" wereFolupo/Diola, as today's
designationuriatofnorthernBanolfor'Diola' reveals.Is thestemHatcognateoftoday'sethnonym and
area-nameSiyatforthenorthernmost Diola? For Diola andslaverycf.Linares1987.UnlikeBanol,
northeastern(Fonyi-)Diola villagesdidnothavetheinstitution ofceyi(king,rainpriest).
Balangamen
woreleather loin-cloths
andcottonshirts,thuscombining clothingtypesspecified inothersourcesas
beingwornbyFolupoandBanolrespectively.
22 Hair 1980: 124,andhisnoteson Alvaresde Almada(1984/86,chapter 15/6-7).
23 In Mexico,Susuwerecalled"Xoxos"(Aguirre Beltran, poblagionnegra,120).

Jalon.In modernnorthern SierraLeone, Susu and Jalonkeare close neighbours.The

ethnonyms may thus have been eitherconfusedby earlyPortuguesetradersof 1495 or
were a referenceto stillundifferentiated Susu/Jalonke.24While thephoneticsimilarity
Saxi-Susuis, in fact,notveryclose,and theterm"Sousos" was alreadyemployedin the
1500s (Pacheco Pereira1956: 84), themodernSenegalese"Soce" for'Mandinga'displays
a brightfinalvowel(e) as in Saxi and mightbe thephoneticlinkbetweenSaxi and Soso
(Saxi-Sose-Soso).'Sose' also designatednon-MuslimMandingaalongtheGambia and in
Birasuand Kabu.25
In ordernot to createa deceivingtingeof reliableidentifications by usingmodern
ethnonyms, I adhere to Bowser's forms from archivaldocuments. He standardisedthe
of The
spelling ethnonyms. following variantshave been foundin the archives of Santo
Domingo: biocholviocho (Bioho), bervisi
yolofe/gelofe/jolofo, (Berbesi), bidfaralbrafara
(LarrazabalBlanco 1967: 75).
The contemporary use of ethnonyms in Peru may have led to conventionsdeemed
'incorrect'by modern standards,but servingtheirendsat thetimewhenthenameswere
given. The non-appearance Folupo slavesin thesamplesbefore1595 mayreflectthe
of
incorporation of veryoccasional Folupo slaves into the Banol category,because the
Folupo were, owingto theirscarcityin theearlyperiodof thetransatlantic slave trade,
relativelyunknown and many of them may have spoken Banol as a second language
(because oftheirspatialproximity). ThusSandovalwroteof"BanunesBootes"or simply
"Bootes",who termedthemselves"Banunes"(Banol) but spoke Folupo.26Other'false'
classificationsare conceivable:Balanta mayhave been classifiedas Biafara,Mandinga,
Casanga, or Bran as longas theyenteredtheslave tradeonlyrarely.
Manyethnonyms persisttothepresentday:Mandinka,Nalu,Kasanga,Fula (also Peul,
Fulani,etc.),Balanta,Soso. In thecourseoftheMane invasionofthemid-16thcentury in
theinterior of SierraLeone, Sapi/Zapecame to be a generaltermfortheethnicgroups
engagedin thewars,and Soso captivesmayhave occasionallyenteredtheslave tradeas
Zape, thusconfusing theethnonymic conventionfollowedin earlieryears.
Some ethnonyms havechangedlittle:JolofoarethemodernWoloforJolof, Biafaraare
theBiafada(moregenerallyknownas Jola),Bioho are themodernBijago and werealso
knownas "Biojoes,o Bijogoes"(Sandoval 1627: 64), "Biojoes"resembling Bioho.Banolis
theSpanishversionof Portuguese"Banhun",as thepeople concernedare stillknownin
Guinea-Bissauandas thesouthern Banolcontinuetocall themselves.In theregiontheyare
moregenerallyknownas 'Bainunk(a)'« Mandingabanun-nka).
The ethnonyms Cocoli andZape surviveas thenamesofa smallgroupcalledKokolior
Tyapi,living inthe vicinityofKade andspeakinga dialectofLanduma.Cocoli denotedthe
24 Cf.Sandoval1627:64: "zape yalongawhoarecalledzozo" (mytranslation).

25 The earliestreferenceto Sose is tobe roundin Alvares1990:tol.lav ( Suzes neighbouring Kasa,
probablyinBirasu).Professor Hairwas so kindas tosupplymewithhistentative of 1990,
translation
thisbeingmyonlysourceofAlvares.Possiblya hegemony ofthemedievalSusuempirehadledtothe
adoptionof'Sose' as an ethnonym fortheculturallycloselyrelatedMandinga,justas thealternative
ethnonym 'Soninke'for'non-Muslim Mandinga'in southern Senegambiamayhave been adopted
duringan earlierGhanahegemony (ethniccore:Soninke/Sarakole).
26 Sandoval1627: 38v-39,57-57v."Bootes"wereprobably also called,,Boyochos"
Bayot-Folupo, by
Sandoval,livingnexttothesouthern Banol.

80 StephanBuhnen
modernKokoli,who dominatedthearea northof theLanduma but untilthe mid-17th

centuryincludedthe Landuma (includedon map: Fig. 4).27 Since the 16th and 17th
centuriestheethnonyms changedinmeaning:todaythesouthern
have slightly Landuma-
speakersare called Landuma,thenorthern speakersare called Kokoli or Tyapi(bytheir
Fula neighbours, from'Sapi'). Zape denotedthelinguistically closelyrelatedTemneand
Baga. The termZape/Sapivariedindefinition. Fernandesevidently designatedas"Capijs"
and"£apeos" onlytheBaga, whileSandovalseemstohavedesignatedtheTemneas "Zape
puro"(as opposedto "Zape Cocoli","Zape Yalonga",and "Zape Baga"), as did Alvares,
whotermedtheTemnepolityofCasse the"properSape-land".28 Zape mayoriginally have
includedall speakersofthecloselyrelatedlanguagesLanduma/Kokoli, Temne,andBaga.
ButaftertheMane invasionZape also servedas a termforall thegroupslivingunderMane
supremacy.29 I believethatthemajorityof Zape slaves beforetheMane invasionwere
Temne,because mostofthePortuguesetradingsettlements intheSierraLeone area were
in Temneterritory. The large numbersof Zape afterthisdate were captivesfromthe
differentgroupsengagedin theMane wars,amongthemTemne,Mane, Soso/Jalonke,
Limba,Loko, theprogenitors of theMende,butalso Baga and Bullom.The Zape on my
map (Fig. 4) includetheTemneand thesouthern Baga.
ForseveralUpperGuineanethnonyms theearliestrecordingsarefromValenciaandfor
Peru:Jalonga(1495), Sapi (1497), Banol (1502), Balanta (1589-91).
Some ethnonyms have disappearedor are used foronlypartsof an ethnicgroup.The
Bran are the modernManjak, Papel, and Mankanya,speakingdialects of the same
language.The Mankanyacontinueto be knownas Brame.Papel,todayrestricted to the
southernmost Bran,is a secondethnonym once utilisedto designateall Bran.
The BerbesiarethemodernSerer.The ethnonym probablyis bur-basin,'KingofSin'.In
this,theethnonym followeda contemporary Portugueseconvention ofnamingcountries
aftertheirruler(cf."Budumel"forKayorand "Brogal"forSalum)."Serer"was originally
restrictedto thepeople livingnorthof Sin30and thusdesignatedthePalor and peoples
speaking related languagesoftheCangingroup.31 As thesemayhave sharedelementsof
thecultureof the'modern'Serer(of Baol, Sin,and Salum) and werebilingual(Cangin/
Serer),theethnonym 'Serer'was possiblyextendedto the'Berbesi'bytheJolofoofKayor.
To thepresentday'Serer'continuesto subsumethespeakersofCanginlanguagesandthe
former Berbesi.
27 Cocoliprobably is a toponym (*ka-koli)

meaning land ofKoli'.Koliisthenameofan areaaroundthe
townofKade.Possiblyitis derivedfromMandingakoli-koli 'winding river'(wordinDelafosse1955:
61 1). In fact,theupperCorubalpassingnearKade is tortuous andknownas Koliba,i.e.'RiverKoli'.
Regionaltradition hasthisareaandparticularly thenearby villageofMaruas thesiteofa battleofthe
historical Fula leaderKoliTengelaandas beingsettledbv partofhisretinue.
28 Fernandes separately namedthe"Chocholijs", "Temjnis",and"Capeos",thelatter southoftheBioho/
Bijagos(195 1:76-81); Sandoval1627:lib.1,ch. 16,64 (confused pagination);Alvares1990:fol.54.
29 The languagesLanduma,southern Baga, and Temne,closelyrelated,musthave sprungrromone
language in the not too distantpast.Considerationsof sourceson theZape identity: Hair 1967a:
253-54 andparticularly Hair 1967b:65-66n61-62.
30 NearBezeguiche: Fernandes1951:24,Jolofo nearCap Vert:Donelha1977: 124,betweenKayorand
Baol: LemosCoelho 1953:9. Cf.Becker1985.
3 1 ThePalorcallthemselves andtheNdutsiili(d Alton1987:9),possibly a vanantof Serer(rand/being
interchangeable consonants).

Fig. 4: SettlementAreas of EthnicGroups Presentin Peru,c. 1600
of"Tucuruy",
"Tucuxuy"(in Table4) is probablya misreading todaycalledToucouleur.
The"Tucuxuy"was an inhabitant Takruron thelowerSenegal,afterwhichthe
ofhistorical
Toucouleurwere named.They are Fula-speakingfarmers.On the accompanyingmap
(Fig. 4), I groupthemwiththe Fula. In the 16thand 17thcenturiesthe king of the
ToucouleurandFula statewhichsucceededTakrurwas called"GraoFulo"(GreatFula) by
thePortuguese.

82 StephanBiihnen
Folupo are todaycalled Diola/JolainSenegal/Gambia32,butcontinueto be knownas

in
Felupes Guinea-Bissau, and a subgroupsouthof theCasamance is called Fulup.
Quantities
Ifwe knewtheexportnumbersforall ofUpperGuineaorall ofAfrica,we mightbe able to

arriveat exportfiguresbyethnicgroup.Unfortunately, we do notpossesssuchnumbers.
The ethniccomposition ofslavepopulationsand ofinferred slaveexportsdoes notpermit
conclusionsas to theabsolutenumbersof slavesexportedor evento absolutefiguresfor
differentportsand different periods.But therehave been attemptsat estimatingsuch
figures.Severalcontemporary estimatesforslave exportsfromUpperGuinea in general
and fromspecificportsfromthelate 16thcenturyto 1644 givefiguresof 3,000, and of
1,800,2,000 and 2,000-3,000 fromCacheu alone.33These provideus withan orderof
magnitude, as we knowthatRio Cacheu was themajorslaveexporting
particularly region
of theera (Alvaresde Almada 1964: 79). Of course,suchordersof magnitudeare only
conjectural.ButI wouldnotflatlyrejectmodernestimates, onthegrounds
suchas Curtin's,
evidenceforhisfigures,
of'insufficient' as has beendone.In theabsenceofmorecomplete
data the historianis compelledto formulatesubstantiated hypotheses(whichremain
contestable,though).
Furtherevidencecomes fromtheCape VerdeIsland of Santiago,throughwhichall
PortuguesecommerceofUpperGuineahad to pass. For twoyearswe possessfiguresof
slave shipments (Table 7), probablyproducedat a royalrequestmentionedby Rodney
ofSantiago(Cape VerdeIslands)
Table 7: SlaveImports
1609 1610
Do riodeS. Domingos 1 16 700

Do rioGambia 36 -
De portod'Ale(Portudal) 16 -
Source:Carreira1978:95
32 The identicalmodernethnonym JolaforBiafara(Badora-JolaandQuinara-Jola)andforFolupo(in

Senegal:Diola) is perhapsderivedfroma Mandingawordfor,,barbarian" (Koelle 1963: 1). The
identityofnamescausesoccasionalconfusion, whichmayhaveled to thewidespread oraltradition
whichattributesa KabuorigintotheFolupo/Diola areheldtohavebeenKabu's
(becauseBiafara-Jola
originalpopulation).
33 Late 16thcentury forGuinala:nearly3,000slavesshippedtotheCape VerdeIslandsandtheSpanish
on thecoast(Donelha1977: 176). Pre-1616forRio Cacheu:averageof
Indies,bestslavingdistrict
1,800slavesexported (Alvares1990:fol.18v).
1616 forCacheu:morethan2,000slavesto theSpanishIndies(Rodney1965:312).
1622 forUpperGuinea:3,000slavesexported (estimate ofCape Verde:Rodney1970:
ofthegovernor
123).
1644 fortheUpperGuineaCoast:averageof 3,000 slavesp.a. exported inpreviousyears(Rodney
1965:312)
1647 forCacheu:a potential of2,000-3,000slaves(The capitao-mor of Cacheuin a document in
Carreira1984: 140).

(1965: 312). The accuracyofthesefiguresshouldnotbe overrated: "thebooksinSantiago

wereincredibly badlykept"(Rodney 1965: 3 12). According toTable 7 thevastmajority of
slavesarrivedfromor via Cacheu ("do riode S. Domingos"),withonlya fewslavesfrom
theGambiaRiverandevenlessfromPortudalsouthofCape Verde.As thePortuguese had
losttheirtrademonopolywellbefore1609, theSantiagoturnover represented by no means
thetotalannualexportsfromthecoast.Also,itdid notincludePortuguese(illegal)direct
exportsto the'Indies'.
Noneofthefigures presentedpermits us todrawa diachronicpictureofabsolutefigures
forindividualethnicgroups.But researchershave attemptedextrapolations fromthis
contemporary evidence. Curtinrepublished figures for the total number ofslavesexported
fromAfricaunderSpanishauthority forfive-year periodsfrom1551 to 1640, based on
Spanishshipping licencesforindividualshipspermitted to supplyslaves,first publishedby
theChaunus.34For 'Cape Verde'(UpperGuinea) thefiguresfor5-yearperiodsvacillate
between140 for 1631-35 and 4,370 for 1591-95. It is tempting to use theseofficial
figures to arriveat absolute exportfigures, allowing for some degreeoftolerance,and to
utilisethesefigures toarriveatthecontribution, inabsolutenumbers, ofthedifferent ethnic
The of
groups. figures Chaunu/Curtin,processed,if lead to an annual average only42 1
of
slavesexportedfromUpperGuineaintheperiod1551-1595 andofonly181 slavesinthe
period1596- 1640. Butmostofthefive-year- figures forUpperGuineafallwellshortofthe
estimatesforannualexportsfromthewholeofUpperGuineaorfromsingleports,Guinala
and Cacheu: 3,000 and 1,800-2,000 (see above). Curtinacceptsonlythelatterforthe
"best recentyear" (1970: 109-10). Ratherthan the licence numbersreproducedby
ChaunuandCurtin, whichgenerallycontainlowerfigures, I holdthesehighercontempor-
aryestimates, or at leasttheirorderof magnitude, to be acceptableas long-term averages
of effective exports. The of
credibility these higherfiguresis supportedbothby theun-
animity offivedifferent informants and bytheirexpertise(administrators and merchants
resident andactiveintheexportarea).Anadditionalargument the
against reliability ofthe
officiallicencesforslave exportson SpanishshipspublishedbytheChaunusand utilised
by Curtinis thelack of anylicenceforslaves to be shippedfromportsof embarcation
outsideUpper Guinea before 1571, while pre-1571 samples fromPeru and Mexico
containa fairnumberof slavesfromLower Guinea and SoutheastAfrica.35
Estimatesof up to 3,000 slaves exportedannuallyfromUpperGuinea or individual
portsmayhave been optimistic (fromtheslave traders'pointof view) or exaggeratedto
illustratetheregion'sriches.Yetthefiguresgivean impression oftheorderofmagnitude.
The actual annualfiguresmayeven have been muchhigher, at leastforcertainperiods.
This followsfromDonelha's extremely highfiguresforthesingle,albeitmostimportant
port of Guinala. The Cacheu figures 1,800and 2,000 also represent
of themajorshareof
whatwas, at thatperiod,themostimportant Portugueseport on thecoast. Butduringall
periods slaves were directly
exported from other as
ports well, themost important export
areasbeing,before1600,SierraLeone,thebanksofRiverGambia,Guinala,Cacheu,and
Sao Domingos.
34 Curtin1970: Tables 30 and 31; Pierreand HuguetteChaunu,Sevilleet VAtlantique

1540-1650,
1955-60,8 vols.:Paris,according
to Curtin1970: 103.
35 See tablesinLockhart1968: 173,Bowser1974:40-3, andAguirreBeltran1972:240.

84 StephanBiihnen
In an attempt togeta crudeidea ofthemagnitudeoftheexportofslavesfromdifferent

ethnicbackgrounds, I proposeto assume an averageof 2,000 or 3,000 slaves annually
exported from UpperGuineafromthelate 16thcentury to around1640. Changesin the
ethniccomposition ofexportswerereflected inthecomposition oftheslavepopulationin
Peruonlyseveralyearslater.To allow forthisdelay,I taketheethniccomposition inPeru
in 1600-1645 as thebase forestimatingtheethniccompositionof slave exportsfrom
UpperGuinea in 1596-1640 (Table 8).
Averagenumbersdo not,ofcourse,precludesubstantial variationofannualflows.But
theypermit us to get an idea of thehuman loss of thepopulationsconcernedand of the
intensity of commercial transactions.
For theprecedingperiod,1548-1595, we do notdisposeofevencrudecontemporary
estimatesforthequantityof slaves exported,apartfromtheSpanishshippinglicences,
whichI deemunreliable(see above),andDonelha'sestimateofnearly3,000 fromGuinala
(1977: 176), based on personalexperiencein the 1570s and 1580s. Because of the
continuity of growthin the earlyperiodof the Atlanticslave tradeI assume thatthe
numbersfor1548-95 shouldhave been somewherebetweenthepost-1595 figures(see
above) and thepre-1548 figures. For thepurposeofestimating the1548-95 figures I first
turnto thelatter, precedingperiod.
We possessa fewhintsregarding thequantity ofslavesexportedfromUpperGuineain
earlyyears. Around 1505 Pacheco Pereira, who was particularlyinterestedin theslave
trade,had heardofannuallybetween400 and less than200 slavesfromtheSenegalriver
and of 3,500 slaves fromthecoast betweentheJolofkingdomand SierraLeone (1956:
88-90), i.e.fromUpperGuinea.Even ifthelatterfigurewas exaggeratedorreferred only
to 'optimal'years,thesecontemporary estimatesprovideus withan orderof magnitude.
Roughlya decade later,therevenuebook ofthePortuguesealmoxarife ofSantiago(Cape
VerdeIslands),responsibleforUpperGuinea,containsentriesforslavespassed through
thefactory: 565 in 1513,978 in 1514,and 1423 in 1515.36Thesefigures, withan average
ofaboutone thousandslaves,areconsiderably lowerthanthosegivenbyPacheco Pereira.
Iftheyreallyrepresent thetotalnumberofslavesexportedfromUpperGuinea,theyattest
to a considerableamplitudeofvacillation.
On a voyagemade in 1526 thecaptainofone ship,the«Santiago»,bought101 slaves
(of whom15 died on theway to Portugal)fromresidentPortuguesetraders:70 in Sierra
Leone and 31 in theBanol portof Sao Domingoson Rio Cacheu. In additiona resident
Portuguesewas accordedpassage fromSierraLeone to Portugalwithall his property,
consisting of49 slaves,ofwhomhe payed23 forfreight charges.The shipscriberecorded
a shortageof slavesat SierraLeone,partly"on accountofthemanyshipsofthefactory"
(tradingthere).In Sao Domingosthe «Santiago» stayedfrommid-June to mid-July. It
encountered fourvesselsfromtheCape VerdeIslandswithironand cotton(Teixeirada
Mota 1969b: 568-574). If these had barteredforan equal numberof slaves at Sao
Domingos(31), thetotalof thefiveshipswould have accountedforabout 150 slaves,
withintheshortspanofperhapstwomonths. The slaveswouldhavecomefromtheethnic
groupslivingintheregiontappedbythePortuguese ofthechiefentrepot ofSao Domingos:
36 SennaBarcellos1899-1913,1: 74-5 (as citedinBoulegue1987: 136).

Table 8: ScenariosforSlavesExported fromUpperGuinea,1596-1640

Annually
sample,1600-1645
Peruvian Annualexport
ofan assumed
% (roundedup) 2,000 3,000
823 26.4 Bran 529 793
439 14.1 Biafara 282 423
8 0.3 Berbesi 5 8
63 2.0 Jolofo 40 61
296 9.5 Mandinga 190 285
125 4.0 Nalu 80 121
374 12.0 Banol 240 360
26 0.8 Casanga 17 25
4 0.1 Fula 3 4
227 7.3 Bioho 146 219
378 12.1 Folupo 243 364
98 3.1 Balanta 63 94
31 1.0 Soso 20 30
135 4.3 Zape 87 130
86 2.8 Cocoli 55 83
3,113 (Figures from
calculated exact,notrounded
up,percentages)
Banol, Casanga, Bran,Mandinga,and Biafara.Thus, a minimumnumberof several

hundredslavesof theseethnicoriginsexportedannuallyin the 1520s is conceivable.
Acknowledging thepreponderant numberof Jolofoslaves in thefirstcenturyof the
Atlanticslave trade(mid- 15th to mid- 16thcentury), addingthesubstantialnumberof
BerbesiandZape37tothe hundreds of slaves from thecentral partofUpperGuinea(Bran,
Biafara,Mandinga,Banol, Casanga), and recognising that slaves fromUpper Guinea
numerically dominatedthe slave in
population Spanish America duringthe16thcentury,
we arriveat a minimum guess of one thousand slavesperyear. The numericalevidenceand
'guesstimates' between
fluctuate an absolute minimum of severalhundred,an averageof
one thousand in 1513-15, and a maximum of 3,500 slaves annuallyexportedfromUpper
Guineain thefirsthalfofthe 16thcentury. I thusdo notfindCurtin'sestimatesof 1,300
and 1,752 forthesecondquarterof the 16thcentury too far-fetched.38
37 In 1526 oneshipalone,the«Santiago»,hadladenseventy slavesinSierraLeone.We mayassumethat

thesewerepredominantly Zape. Therewas a shortageof slavesbecauseof thedemandfroma
multitudeofPortuguese measures
shipsandretaliatory (?), whichwaswhythe«Santiago»proceeded
to the"Mandinga" region,to theportofSao Domingos(a document publishedbyTeixeirada Mota
1969b:568-9).
38 Curtin1970:99. ButCurtinhasalsoprovided otherfiguresforthesameperiod.In 1975heproposed
"250-1,000a yearintheperiod1526-1550",givingas hissourcehisown 1969 book(Curtin1975:
177).In thereferencepages95-1 15 I didnotfindanyconfirmation ofthesefigures.
Rather,Curtin
proposedthe1,300annualslavesfromAfrica(see above).Andon page 116 he givesthefollowing
estimates:Fortheperiod1451-75 15,000,fortheperiod1476-1500 18,500,fortheperiod1501-25
42,500,fortheperiod1526-5043,800,fortheperiod1551-7561,300,andfortheperiod1576-1600
93,800slaves.For 1526-50thiswouldamounttoan annualaverageof 1,752.ThusCurtinprovides
threeverydifferentestimatesfortheperiod1526-50.

86 Stephan Buhnen
Table 9: Scenarios forSlaves ExportedAnnuallyfromUpper Guinea, 1550-1590
Peruviansample,1560-1595 Annualexportof an assumed

percent 1,000 2,000 3,000
412 29.9 Bran 299 598 898

336 24.4 Biafara 244 488 732
44 3.2 Berbesi 32 64 96
89 6.5 Jolofo 65 129 194
107 7.8 Mandinga 78 155 233
28 2.0 Nalu 20 40 61
109 7.9 Banol 79 158 237
39 2.8 Casanga 28 57 85
5 0.4 Fula 4 7 11
49 3.6 Bioho 36 71 107
- - - - -
Folupo
2 0.1 Balanta 1 3 4
- - Soso - - -
142 10.3 Zape 103 206 309
15 1.1 Cocoli 11 22 33
Thus,an annualaverageof a minimum of 1,000 slavesfromUpperGuineaduringthe

firsthalf of the 16th centuryseems realistic.There are no indicationsthat exports
decreasedin the second halfof the century.On the contrary, withSpanishAmerican
demandgrowingthenumbermusthaverisensubstantially.39 Based on theseassumptions,
I believe 2,000 to be an acceptableestimateforthe secondhalfof the 16thcentury. I
present scenariosof three different and
exportquantities speculative ethnic calculations
fortheperiod1550-90 in Table 9, again distributing theabsolutenumbersaccordingto
theethniccompositionin Perusome fewyearslater(1560-95).
Slaveryin UpperGuinea
In manypartsofAfricaslaveryand theslave tradewere'pre-discovery' phenomena.The

Atlanticslavetrade,first totheIberianpeninsula, thentoitscolonieson thearchipelagosof
the easternAtlantic(Canary and Cape Verde Islands),finallyto the colonies on the
oppositeshoreoftheocean,tappedthepre-existing trans-Saharan tradereachingnorthern
Senegambia. Within a few decades the Portugueseimpact had alteredthisslave trade
its
beyondrecognition: geographicalpatterns, itscommercial networks, and,lastbutnot
least,its volume. The existence of a slave
pre-Lusitanian tradein centraland southern
Upper Guinea is doubtful (see below).
39 As confirmedby Curtin'sestimates(1970: 1 16). See precedingnote.

EthnicOriginsof PeruvianSlaves ( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpper Guinea 87
Rightfromthebeginningof the Atlantictradeslaves were themain exportitemof

UpperGuinea,followedby ivoryand othercommodities(hides,wax,gold,rubber, etc.).
Apart from iron,the most importantimport items were manufactures (metal wares,
beads). The Portuguesealso enteredthepre-existing
textiles, interregionalAfricantrade
(Teixeirada Mota 1969c). Theyextendedand alteredit.One tradepattern centredon the
intensivetextileproductionof theBanol and Branof Rio Cacheu. Portuguesebartered
Cape Verdiancottonforclothon Rio Cacheu. This clothagain servedto procureslaves
andothercommodities insouthern UpperGuinea.In thesecondhalfofthe16thandinthe
17thcentury thePortuguese boughtdye-stuffs on Rio Nunez,andwiththisacquiredslaves
fromtheclothproducingBranand Banol ofRio Cacheu. Soon clothfromtheCape Verde
Islands, producedby slaves, supplementedthe Rio Cacheu cloth as an important
Portugueseexchangeitem.Iron was an even more important commoditythancloth.
Coastal northern and centralUpperGuinea,whichlack naturaldeposits,had previously
beensuppliedwithFuta-Jalon ironbyjula (and Susu?) merchants. Now ironfromEurope
and Futa-Jalon(via SierraLeone) was furnished by Europeans.Iron bars became the
major medium of exchange. Likewise, Europeansand Luso-Africanscompetedwith
Africanmerchants inshippingcola nutsfromSierraLeone toMuslimcustomers incentral
Upper Guinea. Also,horses from theCape Verde Islands werean important exchangeitem
forslaves,particularlyintheearlyperiod,and sea saltwas boughtintheSaloumdeltaand
theRio Geba estuaryto barterit forcommoditiesin areas withoutlocal salt supplies.
Portugueseeven carriedout a (insignificant) regionaltradein slaves by sellingcentral
Upper Guinean slaves to the Jolofo in exchangeforiron(Alvaresde Almada 1964: 73).
But all theseeconomicactivitiesremainedsubordinateand derivedsidelinesof one
fundamental purpose:theexportofslavesacrosstheAtlantic.Slaveswerepurchasedfrom
Africansellerswho,generally, weretheirlegitimateowners.Slaves notbornin captivity
could be converted, through act of sale, intoa commodity.
the In mostUpperGuinean
societiestheEuropeandemandforslaves metwiththeindigenousinstitution of slavery
and witha willingness to sell captives.
Socially,slaveryin UpperGuinea was essentiallydefinedas an individual'slack of
membershipin a socially acknowledgedkin group and her or his subsequenttotal
dependenceon the owneror master.Social and politicalpowerwas a functionof the
numberofdependents forproduction, reproduction, and military ends.The dependents of
a man consistedof his kin group,slaves,and clients.A man's actual powerand a kin
group'sinfluence was determined bothbytheinherited statusandbythenumberofwives
andslaves.Wivesreproduced theirhusband'skingroupandwomenandslavesdidmostof
theagricultural and all ofthedomesticwork.40 The morewives,thelargertheoffspring,
andthusthekingroup.The morewomenandslaves,thelargertheagricultural output.The
degree of the concentration of power was thus a variable of the degree of the
monopolisation of access to women and slaves (cf. Fage 1980).
Manylanguagesin UpperGuinea,theWesternSudan,and beyondsharea lexicalroot
to denote the social statusof slave.41I dare not speculate about the causes of this
geographicaldistribution. The wideand uniform distributionofthewordsand thevariety
40 Women's major share in agriculturalwork:e.g. Barreira 1606 in Brasio 1968, 4: 171.

41 Buhnen 1992: 46-8 and note 4.

88 StephanBuhnen
of shapesprecludea fairlylate processhavingstimulated thedissemination, suchas the

riseoftheMali empire,too oftendetectedbyhistorians as thesole orprimemovingforce
behindhistoricaleventsand processesin UpperGuinea.
In UpperGuinea slaves weremainlyassignedto workin agriculture and households,
butalso incraftsandadministration (includingthemilitary), andtoserveas concubines.In
certainareas a particularhaircutrenderedslavesdiscernible.42
For UpperGuinea,threedifferent patternsof slaverycan be distinguished:
( 1) InJolofandTakrur(as inGhanaandMali),andintheMandingastatesofKabu and
alongtheGambia,slaveswitha hereditary statusformeda segregatedstratum and were
numerous. Jalonke,Berbesi(withtheexceptionoftheGandularea),andFula sharedthese
features.These societieswere strictly In timesof crisisand socio-economic
stratified.
internalantagonisms
restructuring, (suchas theriseofroyalretinues notboundbykinship
and livingon theplundering of peasants)eruptedin civilwar and,laterJihad.
Thereis ampledocumentation ofinternalslaveryandtheslavetradeinnorthern Upper
Guineaand alongtheGambia:as earlyas 1455 Cadamostoobservedslavesworkingthe
fieldsofa kinginJolofandcaptivesbeingsold(1937: 30). In 1456 he was offered slavesby
a kingon thesouthbankofRiverGambia in exchangeformerchandise and he observed
thatthepeoplealongtheriver"do notcommonly venture faroutsidetheirowncountry, for
theyare notsafefromone district to thenextfrombeingtakenbytheBlacksand soldinto
slavery"(1937: 68-69).
(2) Slaverywas generallya marginalphenomenon innon-centralised societies,bothof
farmersof rice in reclaimedmangroves(Folupo, southernBalanta,Nalu, Baga) and of
millet/sorghum (Konyagi,Basari,Pajadinka).Ifnotheldto ransom,capturedadultmales
wereeitherkilledorsoldtomerchants, whilechildrenandwomenwereintegrated intothe
captors'kingroups.Undercertaincircumstances, captiveswereallowedto formorretain
theirown kingroups,thoughthesecontinuedto be stigmatised overthecourseofseveral
generations on accountof theircaptiveorigin.43
(3) Althoughinsomecases federated underthesuzerainty ofsupremerulers, theking-
domsoftheBanol,Casanga, Bran,44Biafara,Cocoli (?) and Temne-Zapeweregenerally
small and based on the territories of patri-lineages(Temne-Zape,Banol, Casanga) or
42 Slavesshavedthetopof theirheadsonly:PereiraNogueira1947:994 (ex-Banolex-slavesamong

Diola/Folupo),Mollien1820:323 (MandingawomeninGeba).
43 Forexample:oraltraditionpreservesthememory ofthecaptiveBanoloriginofkingroupsamongthe
Banial-FoluDO.
44 Branare mangrove-rice farmers (withtheexceptionoftheMankanyasub-group). It remainsto be
whytheBran,as opposedtoothermangrove-rice
investigated farmers, of
developeda centralisation
power(see below).Brankingsownedslaves(Labat 1728,5:139),as did"nobles"(Alvares1990:fol.
38). As Alvaresexplicitly
wroteof nobles,thismightimplythatcommoners rarelyor neverowned
slaves.Another author,
residingin Bissauand writingin 1686,reportedthatan heircouldsell the
women,
,,family, andslaves"(inTeixeirada Mota1974:125).Faintmemories
children, ofslaveryhave
beendetectedamongtheManjak-Bran. According tothese,obedient intothe
slaveswereincorporated
owner'skingroup(Carreira1947: 100).

matrilinealclans(Biafara?,Bran).45In thesesocietiesinternal slavesseemtohaveexisted,

but were probablynot sociallysegregatedby a hereditary stateof being withoutkin.
Rather, afterthelapse ofone ormoregenerations slavesseemtohavebeenassimilatedby
thekingroupsof theirownersor have formedtheirown kingroups.46 Butpossiblyonly
kingsand, to a lesserextent,nobles owned slaves.Probably crown slavesdidnotgradually
shedtheirstateofbeingwithoutkin.Slaverytooka courseofdevelopment different
from
thatin Sudanicsocietiesto thenorthand east.47
Owingmainlyto therelativelack ofEuropeaninterest in unsalableinternalslaves,the
historicalreconstruction of pre-1800 Africanslaveryin centralund southernUpper
Guineais difficult. Yet thereis evidence(scarce,butearly):Fernandesknewof slavesof
Biafarakingsas well as of the(Zape-Temne)kingof "Casse" and of slaves amongthe
Temneingeneral.48 Alvaresde Almadawas inKasa in 1570. ForthislandoftheCasanga
hementioned the"captainoftheking'sslaves"andhisroleas electorofthesuccessortothe
throne(1964: 68). The silence about internalslaves in a passage of Alvares''Etiopia
Menor'( 1990: fol.24v) on thesouthern Banolmentioning theimportance ofthenumberof
womenfora man'sstatusand foragricultural workseemsto indicatea marginalroleof
(non-royal)slaves.Regrettably thewrittensourceshardlydiscloseanydetailsconcerning
slaves' functions and statusand thenumericalshareof slave populationsin thesocieties
southof theGambia.
45 There are indicationsforan early existence,in more arid and open landscapes, of fairlylarge states
whose 'ethniccores' were Biafara and Cocoli. I assume thatthe populationof the stateof Kabu was
BiafarabeforetheMandinga identityspreadto southernSenegambia. And Donelha (1977: 120) noted
theextensiveland of a "Farim Cocali". In general,though,and particularlyclose to thecoast, smaller
territorieswere the rule. The absence of horses formilitarypurposes (but not forprestige)in these
areas, because of the dense vegetationand the tsetse-fly, may have been a technicalfactorforthe
inabilityto formlargerpolities.
46 This is not more thana plausible conjecture.We know verylittleabout pre-1650 internalslaveryin
thesesocieties.For theBanol and Casanga, thescarce writtenevidencecannot,as yet,be substantiated
byevidencefromoral traditionand social anthropology.UnliketheDiola/Folupo (and the'diola-ised'
southwesternmost Banol), all of today's Banol and Casanga informantsexplicitlydeny the former
existenceof slaveryin theirsocieties. Because of the lack of any evidence for its existence in the
ethnographicliterature,whichbegan to flourishin the mid-19th century,I believe thatit had faded
away bythattimeand theinstitution has,since then,fallenintocollectiveoblivion.Oral information
on
ifnot'structured'
social institutions, in thecourseoftime,does notsurviveoversuch a longperiod.Two
sources of the later 19thcenturywere explicitabout the non-existenceof slaves among the southern
Banol (Berenger-Feraud1874: 452, Marques Geraldes 1887: 499).
47 The laterabsence of slaveryamong Banol and Casanga, and its rarityamong the Bran (and possibly
Biafaraand Zape-Temne),is in starkcontrastto northern Senegambia and theGambia states.In 1936
23% of the(predominantly Mandinga) populationin theGambian districtsof Badibu and Niumi were
reportedto have been of slave origin(National Archives,Banjul: 76/19, Knottto Colonial Secretary,
22 Dec. 1936). The scarcityof writtensourcesfromthelate 17thto themid-19thcenturyimpedesthe
studyofdevelopmentssouthofRiverGambia. It was in thisperiodthatthesocietiesofBanol, Casanga,
and Biafaraunderwentchangesresultingin thedisintegration of'autocratic'rule,whichmayhave been
relatedto the'pacification'of southernBanol societyfromthe 18thcenturyonwards.Possiblythisled
to an insufficientrecruitment ofnew slaves. As slave populationsare generallyincapable ofbiological
reproductionand with the gradual integrationof slaves into the kin groups of theirowners the
institutionof slaverymay have simplyfaded away.
48 Fernandesl951:78,82,88

90 StephanBuhnen
The head slave of thekingas leaderof thearmedforcesand in otherhighofficesis a

commonand well-documented in historicalstatesof theWestSudan (Mali,
institution
Jolof,etc.) and beyond,in Salum, Kabu, along the Gambia, and in the coastal 'state'
societiesofcentralUpperGuinea(see above).PossiblyAlvares'nomenclature providesus
witha clue to the religiousand social backgroundof thisinstitution forBichangor,a
southern Banolkingdom.49 He mentions a "maximin", "thedignitary whocorresponds toa
viceroyor chiefofficeramongwhitesand whomthekingstationshereforthispurpose."
This personofficiated at theritualinterrogationof a deceased personto detectwhether
witchcraft had caused theperson'sdeath,the ritualbeingperformed by a "jabacouse"
{Seneg&mbian magician').Alvares'footnote
ja(m)bakose'ritualist, (t) explains:"Maximin
means Massa jum", i.e. mansajong, Mandingafor'king'sslave'.50Portuguesex being
pronounced sh,"Maximin"can be reconstructed as * ma-siminiIfthisis correct, theword
woulddenotethepersonin chargeof theancestralshrineof a village'sseniorlineage.51
This shrinewas called Sameni or Siminiamong the Konyagi,Biafara,Casanga, and
southern Banol.Amongthelattertwogroups,theSiminiis associatedwiththeelders'age
group and the witch-detectingMama-Jombomask {mama 'ancestor').52This mask is
stagedby the bachelors'age group,whoalso servedas enforcers ofthelaw.It thusseems
that in Bichangoreitherthe king appointedthe senior crown slave {mansa jong)
responsiblefordetectingand punishing witchcraftand leadingthearmedmenor Alvares
used mansajong as a generictermfor"viceroyor chiefofficer", notconnotinga slave
status,as thisofficewas generallyheld by the mansajong in areas underMandinga
influence.
49 Alvares1990:fol.28 andfootnote t
50 massaformansaalso in Donelha 1977: 166 (a kingof Kasa). The institution was also knownin
northern Banolstates.TheledgeroftheRoyalAfrican CompanyatJamesIsland(RiverGambia)notes
forGeregiain1737-40 "theKingsheadslave"amongtheregular recipients ofduties,termed "presents
andliquors"(PublicRecordOffice, London:T70/1452,fol.378; T70/1453,fols.98, 99, 244, 375).
The Geregiaking'sslaveslivedintheroyalcompound(Labat 1728,vol.5:14). One signatory ofan
1844 treaty signedwiththePortuguese intheBanolvillageofMarsasoum, an alternativecapitalof
wasa "Macajuma"(SennaBarcellos1899-1913,vol.8,part5: 44). A cedillaunderthec would
Jasin,
render as masajuma.
it,phonetically,
5 1 Theprefix ma-seemstohavedenoted, inter
alia,offices
andfunctions inhistoricalBanolandBiafara.I
believethatthestem-can-in"machanju", oftheBanolkingofBichangor
anofficial (Alvares1990:fol.
22v,notec), is identicalwithmodernBanol(u)-koh-(o)'guard',"machanju"wouldthusdenotethe
'masterof theguards'.In Biafara,theking's"porteiros" (door-keepers) werecalled "machoides"
(Alvaresde Almada1964: 10 1n16),possibly from Biafarajid'door'(here:-"choid"-).Anoraltradition
namesoneMasingend Jomaas thefounder ofBugendoonRioCacheu.Sinkindbeing Banolfor'port',
thenamecouldmean'master/alcaide oftheport'.GomesBarbosalisted'professions' as beingprefixed
ma-inBiafara( 1946: 2 10). PerhapswesternMandingaadoptedtheprefix: inWulithe"king'sgeneral"
was called"Mantamba"(Fox 1851: 457), possiblyfromMandingatambo'spear'.In Wulia senior
crownslavewas "priest" ofthetambajali(Weil 1984: 89), a spear-derived royal-sacral metalstaff
genericallytermedsonoor co:noinsouthern Senegambia.
52 Konyagi:Delacour1912: 106 ("Sameni","genieprotecteur" of a village).Biafara:theplace name
Masomine(*ma-somine) occurstwice,betweenBafataand Mansaba,in (former) Biafaraterritory.
CasangaandIjaher- Banol:myinterviews at Sedengal,19 May 1987(Simini:shrine ofMamaJombo,
themajorancestral mask),andatJegui,13 December1987,andSamik,18 June1987(a preparatory
ritualforinitiation
ofyoungmenatSimini).Copiesoftaperecordings atOralHistory Division,Banjul.

Severalfeaturesof slaveryunderwent rapidchangeaftertheinceptionof theAtlantic

slavetrade.53 Whilearound1500 theBanol kingof"Jagara"and a Mandingakingon the
Gambia had lawbreakersbeheaded (Fernandes1951: 40, 70), in latersourcescapital
punishment is rarelymentioned.Rather,reportsaboundofjust about everydelinquent
being sentenced toslavery.The Atlanticslavetradewas also a newandstrongincentive for
war and kidnapping.
In 'state'politiesbeforethe age of a long-distanceslave tradethe sale of slaves to
EuropeansandLuso-Africanmiddle-men was a near-monopoly ofthekingand,secondly,
of the gentry.This gentrywas composedof influential membersof the royallineage,
occasionallyalso ofimportant non-royallineages,and additionally ofregionalelitesand
administrative personnelin thelargerstates of northernUpper Guinea.
of UpperGuineaand theSlave Trade

ThePeruvianEvidenceand theHistory
Boththegeneralarea ofprovenanceinAfricaofall UpperGuineanslavesinPeruandthe

changinginternalcompositionof the Peruvian slave populationpermitinferences
regarding thehistory of thetradeand of thesocietiessupplying theslaves.
Practicallyall slaves from the western half of West Africa originatedfromUpper
Guineanareas directly accessibleto Europeantraderstravelling Withthe
in water-craft.
exception ofthe and
Mandinga Jalonke, the territories
of all Upper Guinean ethnicgroups
presentinPerubefore1650 werelocatednomorethan400 kmfromthecoast(Fig.4).Vast
areasofthisregionwereaccessibletowater-borne transport throughthenavigablecourses
of rivers:the Senegal,the Gambia, the Casamance, Rio Cacheu, Rio Geba, the lower
coursesoftheNunez,Pongo,and SierraLeonean rivers.Generally, Europeantradersdid
notbeginto traveloverlandbeforethemid-17thcentury.54 The areasofintensivetradein
slaveswereparticularly close to Europeanports:Banol,Folupo,Bran,Biafara,Zape, but
also thevastterritory of thewesternMandinga.The distancebetweenareas of enslave-
mentand thenearestportsof embarkation did notgenerallyexceed fifty i.e.
kilometres,
two days' march.The main exceptionswere Jolofoand Berbesi frominland areas,
Mandingafrominterior partsofKabu, Cocoli, Fula fromtheFuta Jalon,Soso, and those
Zape-Temne who lived in theinterior. Even in thesecases, thedistancesto portsdid not
generally exceed 150 kilometres.
For thedurationof nearlytwo centuriesfollowingtheinceptionof theAtlantictrade
(1460-1650) thisrestriction to areas close to Europeanand Luso-Africanmerchants and
theiragentstradingin portsis solid evidenceagainsttheexistenceof an Africanlong-
53 See, forexample,Klein/Lovejoy1975: 198-207.

54 Two overlandroutesoccasionally trequentedbetorethemid-1 /thcenturywere verysnort(lu and zu
km) and connectedtheriversCasamance and Rio Cacheu. Even afterthemid-17thcenturyEuropeans
rarelytravelledoverland.Only a few routesconnectedone navigable riverwiththe next(Gambia-
Casamance-Rio Cacheu, upperRio Cacheu to Rio Geba, etc.). Lemos Coelho on themiddleGambia:
"The blacks say thatthe whiteman is like a fish,thewaterbringsbothand thewatertakes bothaway
again" ( 1953: 134). And in the 1840s "Les Balantes appellentles blancs Ouede, eau, parce que, n'ayant
jamais vu les blancs que dans des embarcations,ils supposentqu'ils n'ont pas de pays." (Bertrand-
Bocande 1849:345).

92 StephanBuhnen
distanceslavetradefromtheinterior to thecoastofUpperGuinea.The fewgroupsliving

notonlyclose thecoast were the Mandinga,Fula, and Soso. But we may assume that
Mandinga slaves were exclusivelyfromthose extensiveMandinga lands whichwere
accessibleto Europeanships:Kabu,Birasu,and theriverine statesalongtheGambia.The
Soso had spreadto areas close to thecoast bythetimewe are concernedwithhere.Fula
were scarce amongthePeruvianslave population.A good proportion of the fewFula
(including Toucouleur) probably entered the trade from the middle Senegal River,
frequented the
by Portuguese sincethe late 15th century, and from Kabu and theGambia.
The Peruvianevidenceagainstan earlyAfricanlong-distance tradein slaves is con-
firmed bytheabsenceofwritten evidencefromAfrica.I havenotfounda singlepre-1650
reference,inotherwise ample accounts oftradeandcommodities, toan Africanslavetrade
in centralundsouthern Upper Guinea.
Europeansprocuredslavesfrompopulationsclose totheportstheyfrequented. To give
an earlyexampleforc. 1500: "The blacksofthiscoastbringsalt,withwhichtheybuythe
said gold,and slaves and rice",to the"Ryo Grande",whereChristianmerchantstrade
(Fernandes1951: 74). This riveris the modernRio Geba. Fernandesalso notedthe
presenceofMuslims(ibid.).These weregenerallymerchants. The tradeofsaltforMalian
gold in smallquantity(ibid.)and thesale ofslaves and riceare mentioned inone sentence,
butare syntactically
separated. This seems to indicatetwo different tradingoperationson
Rio Geba: firstand moreancient,theexchangeof salt againstgold betweenthecoastal
population,probablyBiafara,55 and Muslimmerchantsand,secondly,thesale of slaves
and rice by the same coastal populationto Portuguesemerchants,not to African
merchants.
Whileitseemsclearthatno earlyAfricantradeinslavesexistedsouthofRiverGambia,
I have come across onlyone piece of evidencepossiblyindicatingan internaltradein
northern UpperGuinea.The discoverer Cadamostoreported thesale ofcaptivesalongthe
Gambia"intoslavery"(1937: 69), whichcouldhavemeanteitherAfricanslavery, butmay
also have meant exportto NorthAfrica.The absence of positiveevidence possibly
indicatesthenon-existence ofanyslave tradein UpperGuinea,withtheexceptionofthe
Saharanexport,beforetheage of theslave caravansfromthehinterland in thelate 17th
century.
ExceptfortheSoso inthesouth,therewereno autochthonous full-timetradersinUpper
Guinea.56Long-distancetrade was conductedby Africansin inland areas and by
Europeansand Luso-Africansin maritimeand riverineareas.This geographicalpattern
explainsthelastingco-existenceand complementarity of Africanand Europeantrade.
55 FernandesmentionskingsoftwoBiafarastatesandtheethnonym (195 1:74,78),butfailstomention

theBranandBalantaalsolivingalongthelowerGeba.PachecoPereira(1956: 70-74) providessimilar
evidenceforthetwodifferent
trading andtheBiafaraidentity
operations ofthe"blacksofthiscoast".
56 Ourearliest sourcefortheGambia(for1456)notes:Somepeople"holdthetenets
written ofthesectof
Mohammed, andthesemengothrough theworldandthelandsoftheMoors,notremaining tiedtotheir
homes,forthepeasantsstayat homeand knownothing of theworld"(Cadamosto1966: 102).
thisdefines
Inversely theautochthonous as non-Muslim,
populations settledpeasantsnotconducting
trade.
long-distance

Africanmerchantstravelledin caravans,followingriversonly where theirbanks

offeredsoils richenoughto sustaina dense populationto tradewith(the Senegal,the
middleand lowerGambia).57These merchants were,fromnorthto south:
- Moors(Muslims)in northern Senegambia.58
- Julas,i.e. Muslimmerchantsof Mandingaand Sarakole/Soninke culturalbackground
(cf.Curtin1975: 59-91 and Wright1977), in southernSenegambia,fromSalum and
Gajaga in thenorthto Dantila and theRiverPongo in thesouth.
- Soso (non-Muslims)in theFuta-Jalonand betweentheNunez and SierraLeone.59
Earlywritten sourcesprovidenoevidenceforcaravansshippingslavesfromtheinterior
toUpperGuinea.60The pattern ofslaveoriginschanged,foras yetunknown reasons,inthe
courseofthe17thcentury. Lemos Coelho,a Cape VerdiantradinginUpperGuineafrom
c.l 640 to c.l 665, mentionedcaravansfromtheinterior of thecontinentand listedtheir
commodities, amongthem,occasionally, The
slaves.61 Basari,livingclose to theupper
Gambiabutbeyondtheterminus ofitsnavigablecourse,enteredtheAtlantictradein the
57 DespiteSandoval'sstatement thattheUpperGuinea"kingdoms communicate witheach otherby

rivers",using"well-equipped bargesandcanoes"(1627: libro1,chapter11),thereisnoevidencefora
water-borne commercial transportincentralUpperGuineabyAfricans beyonda locallevel,withone
notableexception: saltwas brought fromthearea of extraction in theSaloumdeltato themiddle
GambiabyNiuminka fishermen whoweresubjectsoftheKingofNiumi(references inBuhnen1992:
note23). InthisrespectI disagreewithRodney, whowrotewithout reservations that"riverswerethe
autobahnen oftheUpperGuineaCoast"(1970: 17).
Also,in southern Senegambiatheradiusof lootingraidsin boatsrecordedin oursourcesdid not
generally exceedsixty kilometres:Mandinga(probably ofNiumi)against"Arriatas" andFolupoofthe
Kombocoast,Kasa againstlowerCasamance,Kasa against"Babaro"(southern Geregiaon river
Soungrougou), Bichangor-Banol againstneighbouring Banol(Alvaresde Almada1964:60, 61, 64,
76); KingofFonyi-Brefet againstKiang(Donelha1977: 140);"Sacalates"pirates(Bayot- Folupo)in
ambushin creeksof theCasamancenorthbank(Lemos Coelho 1953: 116). For commercial and
military onthemainland,
activities theinsularhabitatoftheBijago/Bioho forcedthemtovoyageover
greater distances.
58 Exemplary references: TheJolof kingsoldslavesto"Azanaghi"MoorsandtoChristians (Cadamosto
1937:30),"morosde Berberia" soldhorsesandcamelstobuyJolofo, Berbesi, andotherslavechildren
forexportto"Libia"(Sandoval1627:38).
59 PachecoPereira1956: 84; Alvaresde Almada1964: 119, 125, 145; Donelha1977: 96; Anguiano
1957,vol.2: 132
60 Severalauthorswroteonlyof gold as thecommodity brought by caravansto theupperGambia:
PachecoPereira1956:64; Alvaresde Almada1964:48; Sandoval1627:38. Alvaresde Almadalisted
products brought fromtheinterior and fromtheFula bySoso trading at SierraLeone(1964: 119).
Slaveswerenotamongthem.Cf.Curtin1975: 177.
61 LemosCoelho mentioned rubber, hides,ivory,and goldof "Jagancazes" (Jahanka)caravansfrom
Mandingtonorthern Senegambia (1953: 7-8), andgoldofJahanka caravanstotheRio Ponga(1953:
6 1). OnlyfortheupperGambiadidhewriteof"cafillasdosnegros" withivory, cloth,"negros"(slaves),
andgold(1953: 23), andofa Jahankacaravanselling, interalia,"many"blacks(1953: 131).Also,a
largecaravanof"Conjuros" arrivedontheupperGambia( 1953: 133),butwehearnothing abouttheir
merchandise. TheConjuroswereprobably Sarakolemerchants from theGajagatownofGunjuru near
theFeluFallsontheRiverSenegal,terminus ofearlynavigation byEuropeanriver-craft. Also,many
smallcaravanswithivoryandslaves(probably Basari)cametotheKantoraareafrom"surrounding
kingdoms" (ibid.).

94 StephanBuhnen
mid-17thcentury, and thefirst'Bambara'(of certainprovenancefrombeyondBambuk)

appearedonly in the 1680s.62
Lack of evidencefora long-distanceslave tradebeforec.1650 does notruleout an
indirectand passiveUpperGuineaninvolvement in thetrans-Saharan slave trade,which
continuedat leastuntilthe 17thcentury. Al-Istakhri (in the 10thcentury) knewofslaves
beingtransported from theSudan totheMaghreb, and Al-Idrisi(in the1 2th century) wrote
offrequent incursions by raidersfrom Ghana, Sila, and Barisa into the lands to the south to
procurecaptives who were soldto merchants.63
"visiting" These lands included the core of
laterMali andpartsofnorthern UpperGuinea.The captivesmusthavebeenprogenitors of
Mandinga, Jolofo, Fula/Toucouleur, and possibly even of Basari and Bafiol. The King of
JolofsoldslavestoMoorishandArabmerchants in 1455 andone anda halfcenturies later
Moors werereportedexporting Jolof,Berbesi,and otherchildrento Libya.64
Before1650 themajority ofslavesdestinedfortheAtlantictradeweresupplieddirectly
bykingsand,to a lesserdegree,nobles,whohad procuredthemnotthrough tradebutby
virtueoftheirpower(warandjudicialenslavement). The onlyothersocialgroupscapable
ofamassingrichesandemploying slavelabourwerejulas (through trade,notpower)and,
in theirwake,maraboutssellingcharmsand,in theformof divination, counselto both
pagans and fellow Muslims. The elitedepended on trade goods and magical services.This
and theirmobility protectedjulas and marabouts, unlike the rest of the population, from
thethreatof confiscation by the powerful.
Slavesweretradedon thelargemarketsoftheCasanga,Bran,andBiafarabutwerenot
accordedpreeminence byoursourceslistingmarketwares:mainlyfoodstuff, slaves,and
cloth.651 believethatslaveswereonlyintroduced on tradefairsafterthePortuguesehad
begunto victualthemselveson marketsforlocal produceneartheirchiefentrepots and
thatthebulkofslavescontinued tobe procureddirectly fromkingsandnobles.Slaveswere
notmentioned fortheminormarketsexistinginsomeothersubregions ofUpperGuinea.66
The provenanceofcaptives,forsale orinternal use,fromnearbyareasfacilitated escape
totheirhomes.Also,certainsettlements wereconsideredtobe safehavensforanyfugitive
slave.67As a deterrent against escape, new captives were taken to shrineswherea
62 LemosCoelho1953: 134;Curtin1975: 178.

63 CorpusofEarlyArabicSources1981:42, 108-9
64 Cadamosto1937:30, Sandoval1627:38
65 Almada 1964: 70 (Casanga marketin Brikama),83 ("on thecoast"),100 ("Bijorrei", a Biafara
market), Alvares1990:fol.22v (landofthesouthern Banol).
66 Selectedreference: Donelha 1977: 149 (Gambia).Exception:A document of c. 1600 mentioned
mastersselling'vassals'to Iberianson marketsin kingdoms of the'GrandFulo',i.e. alongRiver
Senegal(inTeixeirada Mota 1969a: 829).
67 Onesuchsanctuary was"Buje",i.e.Boudiemar inBoudie(LemosCoelho1953:31).Andforthe1840s
twoBranvillageswerereported accordingasylum to"criminals"andbeingsitesofshrines consulted
by
pilgrims incasesofdiseaseandfemalesterility(Bertrand-Bocande 1849:339). According toan oral
traditionmurdererswereaccordedasyluminKoling,a 'capital'ofJasin(RaimondNango,Guidel,17
May1987,tapecopyatOHD Banjul).Thepopulation ofKulikoro (Mali)was"composed ofmurderers,
andrunaway
thieves, bystonecharms(GrayandDochard1825: 3 17). So farnothing
slaves"protected
specificis knownaboutthesocialandreligious background oftheseplacesofrefuge. Somefeatures
remind
faintly oftheancientanduniversal neutral
conceptof'portsoftrade',politically entrepotsoften
suppliedwitha sanctuary, dealtwithinPolanyiet al. 1957.

EthnicOriginsof PeruvianSlaves ( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpper Guinea 95
crocodile,snake,orleopardwas invokedto devouranyescapee.68A kingroup'sprogeni-

toris conceivedofas takingtheshapeofa snakeor,inriverine areas,a crocodile.69Hence
captives seem to have been taken to ancestral
shrines.
Becauseofthedensepopulationoftheregionandbecausevirtually all landwas claimed
by kin groups and states, therewere few nooks where slaves
fugitive could settlewithout
being re-enslaved by a territorial One
authority. maroon settlement was located on a
peninsula in southern Biafara and
territory composed of slaves who had fled from
Portuguese and from Africans (Alvaresde Almada 1964: 108).
I can provideonlyfragmentary andpreliminaryaspectstowardsan interpretation

ofthe
Peruviandata forAfricanhistory.
Generally, onlyrecentlyenslavedpersonscouldbe soldbytheirowners.Thisaddsvalue
to our figuresforUpperGuineanslaves abroad:thechangingfiguresweretheresultof
recentdevelopments in theareas of origin.
Enslavement didnotthreatenindividuals oftheirsocialgroupsoforigin.The
regardless
specific causes and circumstances of enslavementchangedovertimeand werefarfrom
uniform fromone societyto theother:
Supply: Frequencyand extentof wars. Intensityof internalenslavement.Extentof

materialcalamityand ensuingself-enslavement. The socio-structural
relation
and socio-psychological attitudetowardstradeand slavery.Alternativeuse of
captives(internalslaves,adoptionintocaptor'skingroup).Officially Muslims
wereexemptfroma reductionto slave statusby fellowMuslims.70 And in the
WesternSudanmembersof'castes'(blacksmiths, bards,etc.)wereexemptfrom
captivity,at leasttheoretically.
Demand: Locationofthecommunity inrelationto theroutesand portsoftheslavetrade.
Demand forspecifichealth,gender,age, and ethniccriteria.Abilityof mer-
chantsto meetthedemandfortradegoods in assortment and quantity.
The majorlines of supplywere capture,bothin wars and in kidnappingraids,and
It is impossibleto assesseventheirapproximate
judicialenslavement.71 respectiveshares
in theprocurementof slavesin different areas and periods.
The incentivefor war and raidingofferedby the desire for slaves attainednew
dimensionswiththeinceptionof theAtlantictrade.Wars and raidswereconductedby
68 Report of Father Baltasar Barreira,Sierra Leone, 1600s, in: Guerreiro 1930-52, vol.3: 268. The
southwesternmost Banol, who share manyFolupo features,held a ritualwithnew captives at a house
shrine(myinterviewin Djibonker,19 June1987,tape at Oral HistoryDivision,Banjul). For theDiola/
Folupo cf. Baum 1986: 167-193. The Bioho/Bijago deposited hair of new captives at a shrine
(Sandoval 1627:69).
69 Earliestrecordingforthe 1 lth century:A snake ritualof the royallineage in Jafunu,a Soninke state
(Al-Bakriin Corpus 1981: 78-9). Animalsrepresenting ancestorsare notto be confoundedwithtotem
animals.
70 Labat on Muslim Mandinga ( 1728, 4: 355).
7 1 Selectedreferences:Cadamosto 193 /:4U (Jolotoj,oy (Gambia); Alvaresde Almada l V04: 33 tbaium),
46 (Gambian Mandinga), 67 (Casanga), 89-90 (Bioho/Bijago, Bran); Sandoval 1627: 68 (Berbesi,
Jolofo).

96 StephanBiihnen
groupsnotorganisedalong ethniclines.Ethnicgroupsare of a non-corporate nature,at

least in UpperGuinea. Rather,a raidinggroupwould be formedby a polity(state or
village)orbyfree-lance teams.Because thehierarchical organisationofstatesocietiesdid
notleave muchroomforarmedactionoutsidestateinstitutions, we maysurmisethatin
suchsocietiesraidingorganisedbythestateaccountedfora largershareofcaptivesthan
thatprovidedbyfree-lanceraiders.72 Yet,theillegalkidnappingof individualsfromthe
same polityas theircaptors occurred.The Portuguesewere not allowed, by their
authorities,to purchasesuchcaptives,butsome furtively did.73
In UpperGuinea,theraidingofnon-centralised populationsbywarriors ofstatesocie-
tiesdid notconstitute an important sourceof captives.74I doubtthatnaturalobstacles
(densevegetation, tse-tsefly)formountedwarriors are a sufficient
explanation. Gambian
Mandinga inboatscaughtFolupoalong the coast untilthesedefended themselves (Alvares
de Almada 1964: 60). Post-1650 evidence:"Bachares"weresold on theupperGambia
fromthemid-17thcentury (Lemos Coelho 1953: 24, 134) onwards.Theywereprobably
Basari capturedby Mandinga and Fula. The Banol King of Geregia sold Folupo he
capturedin hisconstantwarsto subduetheserebellioussubjects(La Courbe 1913: 207).
The Non,Ndut,and SafennearCape Verdemayhaveoccasionallyfallena preytoJolofo
and BerbesiraidersfromKayor,Bawol,and Sin.
Crimeandanti-socialbehaviourwereseenas theproductofevilwitchcraft. In criminal
law cases instatesocieties,thekingas representative ofthecommunity was theprivileged
beneficiary ofanypenalisation: themajorityofthosesentencedtoenslavement becamehis
property, often including all members of theirlineage branch.75 In civil law cases, the
guiltyparty could become the of
property theparty which had suffereda loss.The impact
ofjudicialenslavement is indicatedbythefrequent use ofthePortugueseCreoletermchai
for"offencesreal or imaginary,since the chai provideda pretextforenslavingindi-
72 Twodetailed(though post-1650)descriptions ofsuchraidsandthepertinent rituals,

organised bythe
KingofBissau(Bran)withhisboats,are to be foundinreports fromthelate 17thcentury inLabat
(1728, vol.5:133-135) andbyFranciscode Santiago(in Dias 1945: 162-163).
Inthetimeofpolitical, social,andreligiousunrestalongtheGambiainthe19thcentury, royalretainers
also captured andsoldpeasantsoftheirownstates.
73 Alvaresde Almada1964:46 (GambiaMandinga), Alvares1990:fol.19 (Banol,Biafara)
74 Whether thistypeofraidingwasdominant intheWestSudan,as Meillassoux hasclaimed(1986: part
1,chapters 1 and2),isdoubtful. Basedonevidencefrom thiszonehebelievesthatslavery springsfrom
contactbetweendifferent or betweenpopulationsof different
civilisations degreesof political
centralisation,i.e. thatit requiresnon-centralisedpopulations as a resourceof captivesforstate
societies.
UpperGuineanevidencechallenges whichis shapedbyliterary
thishypothesis, topoisuchas
themedievalArabicnotionof "Lam-Lam"barbarians without rulersand servingas a reservoirof
captivesforSudanicempiresandbyan ethnography labelingacephalousethnic
of'tribal'migrations
groupsrefoules, i.e.groupsdriven intobarrenorwoodedretreats byslave-raidinggroups.I assumethat
in the West Sudan the majorityof slaves exportedwere 'Bambara',Malinke,etc. from'state
populations',although theraiding ofnon-centralisedpopulations mayhavebeenmorecommonthanin
UpperGuinea.
75 Members oftheculprit's lineageenslaved:Cadamosto1937:40 (Jolofo); Alvaresde Almada1964:35
(Salum),67 (Kasa), 115 (Biafara);Alvares1990:fol.29 (BanolofBichangor); Anguiano1957: 136
(Biafara);Sandoval1627:70v.

Judicialenslavement
viduals".76 mayhavebeenparticularly frequentamongtheCasanga
and thesouthern Banol.77
Thereis scatteredevidenceof less frequenttypesof enslavement. Some people sold
childrenoftheirownkingroup.78 A documentof 1607 notesthatBiafara"unclesselltheir
nephews,whenevertheyfindthisnecessary".79 If ill-treated
by theirruler,some people
soughtprotection by offering themselvesas slaves to another king(Barreirac. 1606 in
Brasio 1968,4: 190-199).
A varietyof factorsinfluencedtheextentof enslavementand the numberof slaves
enteringthe Atlantictrade. Yet in various instancesof abruptchanges in ethnic
percentagesthe cause can be identified(bearingin mindthe retardedimpacton the
Peruviandata due to 'storage'and shipment).The close correlationof UpperGuinean
It confirms
eventsand thePeruviandata is surprising. therepresentativityofthePeruvian
sample:
- The upsurgein the numberof Bran slaves between1580 and 1600 may reflectthe
foundingin the 1570s or 1580s of the Portuguesesettlement at Cacheu, in Bran
territory,as the officialcommercialand administrative centreon the coast, a role
previously enjoyedbySao Domingos,theportand Portuguesesettlement ofBuguendo
(Banol),80and byGuinala(Biafara).
- The decrease in the Biafara share in 1595 may be attributed to the shiftof the
Portugueseadministrative and commercialcentrefromGuinalato Cacheu,following
attacksof theneighbouring Bijago/Biohoon Guinala(Rodney1965: 312).
- The earlypredominanceof Jolofoslaves resultedfromcontinuouswars duringthe
expansionof theJolofempireand,later,duringitsdisintegration.81
- The BerbesistatesofSin and Salumwereaffected bytheJolofwars.Berbesislavesare
rarefrom1578-79 onwardsand absentafter1610. This seemsto be evidenceforan
exceptionally peacefulperiodandfortheinfrequency ofjudicialenslavement (orforthe
raresale of captivesandjudicial slaves).
76 Teixeirada Motainhisannotation ofDonelha(1977: 313-315).Ordealsadministered atshrineswere

a widespreadtechnique fordetecting'criminals' Fortheseordealseither
('witches'). poisonorred-hot
ironwasutilised,heatbeingmastered blacksmiths,
particularly
onlyby'pure'persons, magicians,and
kings.
77 Sandoval1627:70 (Banol);Alvaresde Almada1964:67 (Casanga).As lateas thesecondhalfofthe
19thcentury, anti-witchcraft poisonordealscostingthe livesof large numbersof people were
often
particularly mentioned forthesouthern vestigeofearlier
Banol.Was thisa latesocio-religious
socialantagonisms createdbytheroyalautocracy's demandforslavesanda reflection ofthespecific
(Banol)natureofreligiousbeliefsshapedbytheearlierconcentrationon anti-
witchcraft for
activities
theprocurement ofjudicialslaves?
78 Anguiano1957: 142 (Bran),144 (in timesofneed,a case amongtheFolupo).
79 In Brasio1968,vol.4: 276; similarevidencebyAlvaresde Almada1964: 196.
80 Resettlement of thePortuguese fromBuguendoto theCasanga portof Sararin 1581,following a
conflictwiththeBanol(Alvaresde Almada1964: 76-77). DuringthewarsbetweenKasa and the
southern Banol (withthetemporary destructionof Buguendo)thePortuguese movedto Cacheu,
"whichinthetimeofBuguendo's prosperitywas notvaluedor renowned" (Donelha1977: 167).
8 1 Fernandes wroteofJolofs manyfutileattempts toconquertheBerbesiandtheSerer(195 1: 27). See
also Boulegue1987.

98 StephanBuhnen
- The increaseintheBanol figuresafter1580-82 maybe relatedto thecaptureofBanol

duringKasa's conquestof thesouthern Banol in the 1580s82and theestablishment of
traderelationswiththenorthern Banolon thelowerGambia.83Possiblytheincreasesin
1620-25 and/or1640 resultedfromeventsrelatedto thesuccessfulrebellionof the
southern Banol againstKasa's suzerainty (Lemos Coelho 1953: 153).
- The decreaseintheCasanga figuresafter1585 mayresultfromtheclosingoftheRiver
Casamance in the 1570s by(Folupo or Bayot?)enemiesof Kasa (Alvaresde Almada
1964: 61). Because of its navigationaldisadvantages,the Casamance remaineda
backwaterofshippingafterthearmedclosurehad beenlifted(at an unknowndatenot
longafteritsinstallation). Barsrenderitsmouthdifficult This led to the
to navigate.84
tapping of theCasamance trade,above all in wax fromJame, through overland routes
fromtheRio Cacheu (via Banol ports)and theGambia(via theBanolportofGeregia).
Did thedecreaseofPortuguesecommercialactivity toitssubsequent
inKasa contribute
loss of politicalimportance?
- The appearanceof Balanta,not mentionedin sourcesof the 1500s (Fernandesand
Pacheco Pereira),after1585 was relatedto earlyPortuguesecontactswiththepeople
on bothbanksoftheupperRio Cacheu. Balantaare namedamongtheslavesfromRio
Cacheu inthelate 16thcentury. The passingand undetailedreference to Balantaalong
theRio Cacheu is in striking contrastto thedetailedinformation aboutotherpeoples
and atteststo thecursorycontactwhichhad probablyonlybeen establishedshortly
before.The same source explicitlystatesthatthe southernBalanta refusedto be
Portugueseslaves.85The 1640 increasemaybe relatedto theopeningoftheupperRio
Cacheu forgeneralcommerce,itstradehavingpreviously beenrentedouttoindividual
merchantsby the Portuguesecapitao-morof Cacheu (Lemos Coelho 1953: 153,
159-160).
- The Zape figures accordwithhistorical reports abouttheMane wars,86 beginning inthe
mid-16thcentury and leadingto a steepriseinthenumberofZape captivessoldto the
Europeans.The figurespermita fairlydetailedview of changes in the volumeof
capturesandsales,andseemtoindicatethatserioushostilities endedintheearly1580s.
The majorfactorsaffecting changesin theextentof slave exportsseem to have been
warsand therelocationof Europeantradingcommunities. On theotherhand,is a fairly
stableshareof a particularethnicgroupindicativeofjudicial enslavementas themajor
mechanismofenslavement? This mightbe assumedfortheCasanga,Mandinga,Balanta
and,with for
reservations periodsofshort-term fortheBranandBiafarawho
fluctuations,
a
displayed continuously high level. In Senegambia,the Berbesiand Jolofo
northern
82 Alvares1990:fols.18,56; Alvaresde Almada1964:69; Donelha1977: 171.

83 Alvaresde Almada1964:57 andDonelha1977: 141 reported trade.
84 PachechoPereira1956:68. LemosCoelho 1953:29. andothers.
85 Alvaresde Almada1964:79,8 1.Whilean early17thcentury sourcementioned judicialenslavement
forthesouthernBalanta(Sandoval1627:39), LemosCoelhoprovided nohintstoa sale ofslavesby
southern statedthatBalantasdidnotselleach
Balanta( 1953: 166),anda sourceofthe1680spositively
other(Aneuiano1957.vol.2: 143).
86 For theMane warssee Rodney1970: 39-70 and passim,and Hair 1968: 47-57. Hair criticised
Rodney'snotionoftheManeinvasion causingsweeping changesintheregion(1975).See also
cultural
Jones1981 on theVai identity oftheMane.

EthnicOriginsofPeruvian
Slaves( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea 99
figures,whichdecreasefroma veryhighlevel to nil and low percentagesrespectively,

furnishevidencefora highdegreeof correlation betweenwar and enslavement.
Despite the prohibition in 1526 of Jolofoimportsto Santo Domingowithoutexplicit
permission, following a local slave revoltin 1523 (Larrazabal Blanco 1967: 81), the
demandforspecificslave categoriesseemsgenerallynotto have been muchof a factor
influencing theethniccompositionof pre-1650slave exports.
While some featuresof the compositionof the Peruvianslave populationconfirm
evidencefromnarrative written sources,othersdo notcorrelatewithknowneventsand
featuresofUpperGuineanhistory andthusprovokenewquestions(and we mayneverfind
answersto all of them):
- Was thesteepriseintheFolupofigures fromzerotoan oscillationaroundthe10% level
withina fewyearsafter159 1 causedonlybytheintensification ofrelationsbetweenthe
PortugueseandtheFolupoat themouthofRio Cacheu (Falulo,Bolol,etc.),87oralso by
the outbreakof serious and lastinghostilitiesbetweenthe Banol states and the
expandingFolupo southof thelowerGambia?88
- Whatcausedthecorresponding increaseintheSoso andZape figuresfor1645? Was it
connectedto war in theFuta-Jalon?Clashes betweenFula and Soso occurredin the
mid-17thcentury (Lemos Coelho 1953: 59, 208).
- WhatcausedthesteepincreaseinthenumberofBanolslavesin 1625,ofBiohoin1630,
and of Cocoli in 1635, and thedecreasein theBranfiguresfor1604-10?
- The extremelylow figuresforthe Fula are intriguing. This phenomenonwas not
restrictedtotheperiod1548- 1650: thepre-1517 Valencialistsarevoidofreferences to
Fula (Teixeirada Mota 1979, Cortes 1964) and Fula were rare in later slave in-
ventories.89One reasonforthelow Fula figures mayhavebeenthe'jokingrelationship',
whichservedto inhibithostilities betweenFula herdsmenand thehusbandmen of the
ethnicgroupsinwhoseterritories Fula herdedtheir Another
livestock. reasonmayhave
been an absenceofjudicial enslavement, whichdistinguished Fulas from otherethnic
groupsalong theGambia in the 19thcentury90 and perhapsin earliercenturies.Fula
figuresremainedlow untiltheearly 19thcenturyand rose after1818, probablyon
87 As earlyas the1500sPachecoPereiramentioned victualsprocured from"Falulo"( 1956: 70). Forthe

mid-17thcentury, LemosCoelho knewof "many"slavessold in villagesin thisarea (1953: 145).
Alvaresde Almadawroteof"Falupos"slavesfrom RioCacheu(1964: 79). TheDiola ofthisareawere
knownas the"Feloupesdociles",as opposedto the"Feloupessauvages"to theirnorth(late 17th
centurymapreproduced inTeixeirada Mota 1974:41). ThemainvillageofthisareawasBolol/Bolor,
witha stemlolresembling thesteminFalulo.Iftheslaveswerepredominantly captives,thequestion
remainswhether devastating
particularly warshadoccurred.
88 HostileBanol-Folupo inGeregia(southoftheGambia)werefirst
relations recorded byLemosCoelho
(1953: 115) inthemid-17thcentury. Possiblythereport bya Frenchman passingthrough Geregiain
1685/86described a stateofaffairswhichhadlastedforseveraldecades(Labat 1728,vol.5: 20; La
Courbe:1913,207): TheBanolkingsofFonyiandGeregiamadefrequent warson rebellious Folupo
subjectsandsoldgreatnumbers to theEuropeans.
89 Theearliest evidenceforFulaslavesisfromthe1526"bookofequipment" ofthe«Santiago».Itnotes
thedeathofa "Fula"woman,boughtatSierraLeoneorSao Domingos, duringthevoyagetoPortugal
(inTeixeirada Mota 1969b:575).
90 Rev.Fox in Appendix8, ReportfromtheSelectCommittee on theWestCoast of Africa,PartII,
ReportsfromCommittees (British
ParliamentaryPapers1842,2: 219).

100 StephanBuhnen
accountof theFula war againsttheirMandingamastersin Kabu beginning in thelate

1810s.91
- Mane seemnottohavebeenmentioned inNew Worldrecords.Thisgroup'sinvasionof
thegeneralregionofSierraLeone inthemid-16thcentury causedcontinuous warsand
musthaveled to thecaptivity,notonlyofZape, butalso ofMane. The Mane spokeVai
(Jones1981: 159), a languagefairlycloselyrelatedto theManinka-Bambara-Dyula
dialectclusterof the ethniccore of Mali, thentermed'Mandinga'.The Mane were
consideredby the Portuguese,based on theirown and on Africanperceptions, as
originatingfrom"Mandimanga"('King of Mali') and sharinga languageand cultural
featureswithMali's Mandingainhabitants.92 bythefactthat
This idea was supported
bothethnonyms, Mane and Mandinga,are derivedfromMali/Mane/Mande (Donelha
1977: 122). Did thePortugueseand Mane notionofa close relationbetweenMane and
Mandinga lead to the inclusionof Mane in Peruviandocumentsunderthe label
'Mandinga'?Could theriseofMandingafigures inPeruin 1564-66 hencebe attributed
to Mane captives?If it could,thedecreasein thenumberof Mandingain theperiod
1568-73 wouldbe surprising, because theMane warscontinuedforseveraldecades.
Aftertheconsolidation ofMane ruletheMane werealso,at leastoccasionally,included
in theZape category,as "Zapes Manes" (Sandoval 1627: 7).
Fortheperiod1560-9 1, we observetheamazingfactthatmorethanhalfofall African
slaves(54.2 percent)and twothirdsof all UpperGuineanslaves(67.2 percent)in Peru,
andprobablyintheAmericasingeneral(cf.Tables4 and5), camefroma tinyareaofabout
twentythousandsquare kilometresstretching fromthelowerCasamance to theRiver
Kogon. This was the settlementarea of thesouthern Banol,93theCasanga,Folupo,Bran,
Balanta,Biafara,Bioho, and Nalu. It covers the western halfof Guinea- Bissau and a
narrowstripof southernmost Senegal. Of a sample totalof 1,324 slaves in the period
1560-9 1, 1,067(80.6 percent)werefromUpperGuinea,and7 17 (54.2 percent)fromthis
centralpart.And withinthissmallarea,twoethnicgroupssuppliedstaggering numbers:
21.3 percentof all Africanslavesin oursamplewereBran(282) and 21.4 percentwere
Biafara(283). Lemos Coelho illustrated thefrequency of forcedand voluntary enslave-
mentamongtheBiafara:theyare"good friends ofthewhitesand so subduedwhenslaves
thaton theirown freewill manyof themseek out theirmaternaluncles,who are the
91 Fula wereabsentfroma listoftheFrenchfactory 11 Bijago,4 Papel

at Bissaufor1718 mentioning
(Bran),3 Nalu,3 Biafara,2 Balanta,and2 Mandinga(Mettas1975:352) anda Brazilianinventory of
1818 indicating, amongtheUpperGuineanslaves,11 Mandinga,8 Bijago,3 Papel,and 1 Nalu
(Carreira1983:45). I wouldhaveexpectedFulastoo,becausewarsbetweenthemandtheSusuraged
intheFutaJaloninthemiddleandlater17thcentury (LemosCoelho1953:59,Anguiano1957: 132)
andinthe18thcentury MuslimFula conducted a jihadagainstJalonkeandpaganFula.
A Brazilianlistfor1830-39 has 34 Mandinga,21 Fula, 18 Bijago,17 Balanta,9 Folupo,9 Bran,
4 Banol,3 Biafara,2 Jolofo(incl.Suruas),1 Nalu,andothers.A Cape Verdianlistof 1856 has 23
Mandinga,18 Bijago,16 Balanta,10 Fula, 1 Futa,9 Folupo,6 Bran(incl.Pecixe,Brama),4 Banol,
4 Biafara(incl.1 Bolola),1 Nalu,1 Jolofo,
andothers(Carreira1968,23: 323, 325-9).
92 Alvaresde Almada1964: 132,Alvares1990:fol.76
93 I includeall Banolinthefigures forthearea southoftheCasamance,andthusneglectthenorthern
Banol livingbetweenthe riversGambia and Casamance,who,because of a concentration of
Portuguese ontheRioCacheu,probably
activity furnished smallnumbers
onlycomparatively ofslaves
before1591.

EthnicOriginsof PeruvianSlaves ( 1548- 1650): Figures forUpper Guinea 10 1
relativeswhohavesole authority overthem,to ask themto sellthemtothewhites;andthe

blacksinGuineahavea saying,whichtheyrepeat,totheeffectthattheBiafaraintroduced
slaveryintotheworld"(1953: 54-5, 196). From 1595 to 1625,Banol also suppliedlarge
numbers:10-20 percentof UpperGuineanslaves.
Whywereslavesfromtheseethnicgroupsutterly over-represented in theNew World?
How could small areas,such as thatof theBran (fourthousandsquare kilometres, the
equivalent of one thirdof tiny modern Gambia), provide every fifth African slave in the
Americasin thesecondhalfof the 16thcentury? The followingobservations mayyield
hintsto a preliminary answer.
First,thePortuguesepresencein territories of theBran(Cacheu, Bissau) and Biafara
(Guinala,Biguba)was theresult,notthecause,ofthepredominance ofBiafaraand Bran
among the slaves who were sold. In general,merchants bought slaves and settledat ports
neartheresidencesof kings,themajorsuppliers.This resultedin twinsettlements ofthe
king and members of his lineage in one partand of tradersand their agents in theother,
such as at Guinala, Bissau, Sao Domingos. Early intensivetrade in portstherefore
generallyindicatesthe locationof comparatively powerfuland richrulerscapable of
procuring slaves in greatnumbers and thus attracting The Portugueseonlyshifted
traders.
theirchiefentrepot fromSao DomingosintheBanolcountry toCacheu intheBrancountry
aftertheBranhad begunto supplymoreslavesthanthesouthern Banol.
Secondly, for of
many parts Upper Guinea there is historical evidence (written,
archaeological, and oral) of dependents being buried with kings and nobles. The practice
was mostfrequently recordedfortheBiafaraandBran,whoalso burieda particularly large
numberof personswithkingsand nobles.94
The burialof dependentswithkingsis notto be consideredsacrificial.95 Rather,the
dependents were conceived of as part ofthe king'sequipment forhis The
afterlife. custom
of mortuarysharingreflectedthe kings' and nobles' power to pursueprofaneends
(luxuriouslifeinthisworldand intheotherworld) fairlyunrestricted bysocialregulations
safeguarding the interests of other segments of society. To the present day thetrinity of
and
wealth,power, sacrality remains particularly inseparable in the institutionof kingship
amongtheBran.Eligibleaspirantsto a thronearerequiredto gaintheendorsement ofthe
94 Pre-1665 evidence:Fernandes 1951: 78 (Biafara); Alvares de Almada 1964: 95 (Biafara); Lettersof

1605 (Baltasar Barreira)and 1607 in Brasio 1968, vol. 4: 56, 273 (Guinala-Biafara:"many"wives and
servantsburiedwithking); Alvares 1990: fols. 32v (King of "Bussis"-Bran:"some thirtyor fortyof
these,includingsome freewomen who are his wives"),39v-40 (Bissau-Bran:same number),136 (not
among Soso); Sandoval 1627: 45 v (two Bran kings: 33 and 65 male and female servants);Lemos
Coelho 1953:40-41, 169 (King ofBissau-Bran: 104 persons).Rare referencesforotherregions,never
mentioninglarge numbers of victims: Gambian Mandinga (Fernandes 1951: 38), Sierra Leone
(Barreirain Guerreiro1930-1952, vol. 3: 249), Mane (Donelha 1977: 116).
95 Sacrificesare offeringsby humanbeings to deitiesor spirits,forwhichreturngiftsare expected.This
customis based on thesocial normof a reciprocityof gifts,in theformof goods and services.Services
includeloyaltyby inferiorsand protectionby superiors(these includespirits).Evidence forthe killing
ofhumanbeingsas sacrificesto (oftenroyal) shrines:Wuli and Niani (Fox 185 1: 250), Jolof(Donelha
1977: 132-35), Biafara(Labat 1728, vol.5: 139), Banol (myinterviewwithSalifuJingali,Boulomp,15
December 1987,copy at OHD, Banjul), Kabu(Sidibe 1972: 3-4), SierraLeone (Guerreiro1930-1952,
vol.3: 250; Alvares 1990: fol. 139). Many sources mentionthe young age of the victimes.For the
religiousbackgroundamong the Pajadinka see Simmons 1971: 68, 90.

102 StephanBiihnen
Fig.5: EthnicGroupsbetweentheRiversGambiaand Kogon,c. 1600
suzerainking,of Basarel in thenorthwest and Bissau in thesouthrespectively,through

considerablegifts(Carreira1947: 113, 117). Alvarespaintedan expressivepictureofthe
Lemos
omnipotenceof thepettyBrankingof Pecixe or "Bussis"(1990: fols.29v-30v).
Coelho confirmed thatthiskingcouldsellanybodyandthathe sparedonlyhissons(1953:
40). UnlikeRodney(1966), I believethattheautocraticnatureofBrankingshippreceded
theAtlantictradeand was a cause ratherthana resultof theintensityof slave sales (see
below).The kingsoftheCasanga andsouthern Banolseemtohavesharedtheseautocratic
For politicaland materialendskingsin UpperGuineaenslavedand sold even
features.96
'nobles'and richpersons.97
96 KingofsouthernBanola "severejudge"(Fernandes195 1: 7 1), all subjects"slaves"oftheKingofthe

Casanga(Sandoval1627:fol.70v).
97 Sandoval1627:70v;Alvaresde Almada1964:66 (Kasa); BaltasarBarreira c. 1609inBrasio1^08,4:
190-199.

EthnicOriginsofPeruvian
Slaves( 1548- 1650): FiguresforUpperGuinea 103
The degreeofconcentration ofpoweris also indicatedbythelargenumberofwivesof

Africankings(cf.Fage 1980) particularly oftenmentioned forcentralUpperGuinea.The
king of thetiny Banol of
kingdom Bichangor, ofonlya fewvillages,andtheBran
consisting
KingofBojola weresaidtohave400 wives(Alvares1990: fol.22v,Sandoval1627: 39). In
thekingdomsof Cacheu (Bran) and Buguendo(Banol) kingshad manywivesand every
noblemansenthisdaughters forsomefewdaystothekingtohavesexualintercourse with
him.The Casanga King of Kasa did notrecogniseall of his wives(Alvaresde Almada
1964: 83). And Fernandes'informant stressedthisking'spower by notingthe great
of
quantities gold and women he had (1951: 58).
Thirdly, theBran,Biafara,Casanga,andBanol wererenowned, moreso thananyother
ethnicgroup in Upper Guinea, for theircommercialinclinations,98 includingtheir
eagernessto workforwages,as grumetes."Alvaresconsideredthe(southern)Banol "the
bestworkersin thisEthiopiaand veryeagerto acquireand ownchattels"(1990, fol.25).
Fernandesemphasisedthatthe(southern)Banol were"veryinclinedand verydevotedto
tradeon markets"(195 1: 68). Largetradefairsare mentioned onlyforCasanga, southern
Banol,Bran,andBiafara.100 Casanga,Bran,and southern Banolproducedclothforsale in
verylargequantities, supplementing local rawmaterialswithimported cottonfromBirasu
and Woye,and,sincec. 1500, fromtheCape VerdianIslands,and dye-stuff fromRiver
Nunez.101In one, possiblyexceptional,year Portuguesehad transported more than
100,000ballsofdye-stuff fromtheNunezto "Cacheu and theportsoftheBanol"(Lemos
Coelho 1953: 209). At a barterrateof 120-160 ballsperslave at Cacheu (ibid.) 100,000
balls weretheequivalentof 625-833 slaves.
Thus,a featurecharacterising theseethnicgroupswas thecombination ofhighlycon-
centrated powerand wealthin thehandsofthekingsand particularly strongcommercial
inclinations.I wouldventure thehypothesis thatwiththeintegration
intotheAtlantictrade
theuse of dependentsby thepowerful, previouslyconfinedto productive,reproductive,
social, administrative,and militarypurposesin thisworldand in the otherworld, was
extendedto a purelycommercialend:sale.
Concentrated politicalpowerand intensivecommercialproduction and exchangedid
notresultfromimplications oftheAtlantictrade,butoriginatedin an earlierperiod.The
firstrecordingof thesephenomenadates fromtheyearsaround1500.102The Atlantic
98 Yet,theyhad notdevelopeda socialdivisionof labour.Cloth,themajoritemof commercewas

producedbyall members ofthesocietyandan autochthonous classofprofessional
tradersdidnot
exist.
99 Grumetes (Portuguese'shipboys'> Creole 'salariedassistantsof Europeanand Luso-African
occasionallyincludingslave assistants):
traders', Alvaresde Almada 1964: 84 (Banol),97-98
(Biafara);LemosCoelho1953: 182 (Bran,Bioho).Wagelabourandlabourmigration ofyoungBran
maleshavebeenexplainedas a waytoacquirethemeanstomeettheextensive tokings
obligations
(Bertrand-Bocande 1849:340) andshrines,orrather theshrineelders(vanBinsbergen1988:391),
indicatinga particularly
pronounced subordinationofvoungmento powerful elders.
100 Fernandes1951:68, 74; Alvaresde Almada1964:62, 70, 100;Alvares1990:fols.37v,43v,but60
and74v(nofairsinSierraLeone).Thereis oneexception: Largefairswerementioned inthecountry
oftheJolofo ofBawol(Alvares1990:fol.6v\
101 Fernandes1951:58: Alvaresde Almada1964:69-70.73: Barreira inRrasio1Q68 4- 16Q
102 Fernandes' informantwas intheCasamanceprobably in 1500 (Fernandes1951:62).

104 StephanBuhnen
tradehad come intofairlyregularoperationaround1460,103onlyfourdecades earlier.

Fernandes' informantwas an exceptionallywell-informed eye-witnessand took a
particularinterestinrituals.WhilehismostdetailedknowledgeconcernstheSierraLeone
area,whereheprobablystayedformostofhisUpperGuineansojourn( 1499- 1507), we do
notfindanyreference forSierraLeone or anyotherpartof UpperGuinea to thesortof
practiceshe encountered inBiafaraand southern Banolcountry. He notesthatdependents
wereburiedwiththekingsof theBiafara:theirfavoritewife,theirclosestconfidant, and
theirbestslaves,and he presentsus witha vividdescription of a verylargemarketin the
Sao Domingosarea ("Jagara"-Banol), oftheking'sauthorityoverthismarket,and ofthe
king'sreputation as a severejudge.104
Fernandesdid notmentiontheBran and onlydealt in passingwithCacheu in Bran
country(but knew of its market).105 Neitherdid his contemporary Pacheco Pereira
mentiontheBran.This and theabsenceof Branslaves in pre-1517recordsindicatethe
verylimitedparticipation ofBranin theearlyAtlantictrade.Yettheyalreadydisposedof
thecommercialinstitution of a market.
Causes forthedevelopmentof politicalconcentration and commercialinclination of
Bran, Biafara, Casanga, and southernBanol are not yet known.The agricultural,
settlement,andkinshipsystems ofthesegroupsdiffer
widely.The staplecropofthePapel-
and Manjak-Branwas wetrice,whiletheBiafara,Casanga, and Banol agriculture was
based on uplandcrops(millet,sorghum, dryrice).Branand Biafara shareda matrilineal
affiliation
toclansanda dispersedpattern ofsettlement,
whileCasanga andBanolshareda
patrilinealaffiliationto lineagesand a nucleatedpatternof settlement.
The correlation ofextensivepoliticalconcentration and commercialexchangemaybe
nomorethanonefacetina complexsetoffactorsleadingtothehighslaveexportfigures of
some ethnicgroupsin centralUpperGuinea.
How couldslavesintheorderofannually300-900 Branand250-750 Biafara(Tables8

and 9) have been procuredovera periodof severaldecades froman area of a merefour
thousandsquare kilometres(Bran) and perhaps twelve thousandsquare kilometres
103 FromDiogoGomes'account, Teixeirada Motadatedthebeginning ofa regularPortuguese Guinea

tradetoeither1458,1460,or 1462 (1972: 175).Theearlierdatesseemtobe confirmed bya fairly
continuous exportofslavesfromUpperGuineabeginning inorshortlybefore1460,as indicated by
theappearance, in 1460,ofslavesfrom"Guinea"intheValenciarecordspresented byTeixeirada
Mota(1979: 198-99).Therecordsalso indicatean interruption ofthetradeinc. 1472-1479(ibid.:
198-99,203, 207; Cortes1964:passim).
104 Fernandes1951: 68-70,78. Onlyforthe"Mandinga"country did Fernandesalso mentionthe
intermentoftheseniorwifeandcloserelations withtheking(ibid.:38).Fernandes'useoftheregional
name"Mandinga" wasambiguous. Itreferred
toMaliproperas wellas toMandingalandsalongthe
GambiaunderMalianrule.In thiscontext, he was probablyreferring to theMandingaalongthe
Gambia.
105 Fernandes 195 1: 72,74. Hismentioning ofmutualvisitsontheir markets
respective (1951:68,74) by
theinhabitants ofJagaraandCacheuandingeneralmaywellbe an earlyindication (c. 1500) ofa
rotationaloperation ofdifferentmarket-places.
106 Ofthe101slavesbought in 1526bythe«Santiago»inSao DomingosandSierraLeonethefollowing
agesweregiven:11 boysof 10-12 years,10 girlsof 10-12,2 girlsof 13-15,2 girlsof 15,6 menof
25-30,30 menof30,26 menof30-35,7 womenof20-25,5 womenof30,2 womenof30-35 years
(Teixeirada Mota 1969b:568-574).

(Biafara)respectively? Andpractically all oftheseslaveswerefrombothreproductive and

potentially reproductive This
age groups.106 demographic drain was mitigated onlybythe
factthatfemaleslavesconstituted a minority of thoseexported.
In thecase oftheBrana veryhighpopulationdensityprevented demographicexpira-
tion.The originallandsoftheBranbetweentheRios Cacheu and Geba remainthemost
denselypopulatedarea ofUpperGuinea.In 1950, densitiesfrom102 to 270 inhabitants
persquarekilometre wererecorded,surpassingeventhesettlement areas ofthesouthern
Balanta(87) andtheDiola/FolupoofBulufandOussouye(< 75), as wellas thegroundnut
basinofcentralSenegal(< 75).107A highdensityofpopulationis testified forthePapel-
Branin thelate 17thcentury.108 The populationdensityoftheBran,Brassa-Balanta,and
southernFolupo was and is sustainedby the intensivecultivationof rice in reclaimed
mangroves, a farming systemofconsiderableantiquity (Biihnen1992: 25), in thecase of
theMankanya-Bran by intensive drycultivation.
In contrast totheBran,thepopulationsoftheBiafara,Casanga andsouthern Banolwere
characterisedby mediumto below-mediumdensities.These groupswere farmersof
uplandcrops(millet,sorghum,dryrice). The demographicdraincaused by highslave
exportfiguresin theseareas may well have contributed to the recessionof the ethnic
groups vis-a-vis other,expandinggroups(Mandinga, Balanta, Folupo).It shouldbe noted,
though, that the regression of these ethnic models had been in progresssincetheMandinga
expansion into former Biafara and Banol areas along the Gambia and in Kabu respec-
tively,i.e. well before the firstEuropeans reached Upper Guinea. I further suspectthatthe
BalantaandMandingahad alreadyexpandedintoformer Casanga territory on bothbanks
of theRio Cacheu (Bajab/Faja,Birasu,Woye) beforetheinceptionof theAtlantictrade
(Buhnen1992: chaptersII and XI).
The regression oftheBanol and Casanga ethnicgroupshas tobe attributed todifferent
setsofcauses at different stages. While little is known about the causes, at least threesuch
stages can be identified:a pre- Atlantic-trade era (pre-1460), apogee Casanga and
the of
southern Banol integration intotheAtlantictrade(pre-1500 to c.1650), and thedramatic
commercialand political decline beginningin the mid-17th century.The 'ethnic
regression'of theBanol and Casanga had been goingon at least sincetheexpansionof
Mali and theMandingaintocentralUpperGuinea and continueduninterruptedly during
themostintensive of
period integration into the Atlantic trade of the Casanga and southern
Banol. Thus theslave tradecannothave been thecause of thedecline.But it mayhave
added momentum to theeconomicstrengthening of theking'salreadyextensivepowers
his
through near-monopoly on thesale of slaves. The intensityoftheslavetrademayhave
further tiltedthesocialscales:Textileproduction, formerly the commercial mainstay ofthe
Casanga, southern Banol, and Bran, was based on the production by all members of the
societyand continued to be important well into the 17th century. After the integration into
theAtlantictradeitwas supersededbythesale of slaves,a predominantly royalactivity.
107 TeixeiradaMota1954,vol.1:2 13-214;a document inAtlasNationalduSenegal1977:79

published
108 A bookletof 1695 givestheestimate or20,000"tamiliastorBissau"island (in Teixeirada Mota
ofthePapel-Bran,
1974:83). Bissau"island",theterritory coversabouta quarter ofBranterritory.
The estimateshouldnotbe takenliterally.

106 StephanBiihnen
The newsocial relationsand thedemographic drainmayhavebeenfactorsleadingto the

ethnicdemiseof theCasanga and southernBanol. But thisis notthewhole story.The
successfulethnicmodelof theBran,who sharedmanyfeaturesof Casanga and Banol,
cautionsagainstshort-cut An analysisofBransocietywillprovidea firmer
explanations.
basis forassessingtheprocessesat work.Perhapstheiragricultural base,'mangroverice'
farming, and the social and religiousstructuresbased on this production,made the
difference.Did thematrilinealityof theBrankinshipsystemcontribute to thisdifference
(as opposedto thepatrilinealBanol and Casanga)? In theabsenceof fullstudiesof the
economicbase, social structure,and religioussphere(and theirinteraction) oftheBanol,
Casanga, Biafara,and Bran and theexpandingFolupo and Balanta all explanationsmust
remainfragmentary.109
In orderto forestallmisinterpretationsof the Peruviandata, I wish to reiteratemy

warning: themajority ofslaveswerenotenslavedbymembersofa different ethnicgroup.
In thecase ofjudicialenslavement practicallyall slaveswerefromthesame groupas the
enslaversand subsequentvendors.In thecase ofenslavement throughwaror raidingthe
partiesconcerned,captivesand captors,generallywere fromdifferent polities(states,
villages),butnotnecessarilyfromdifferentethnicgroups.Onlywheresocio-economicand
politicalantagonismscorrespondedto ethnicdistinctions did ethnicity
affectenslave-
ment.110
In UpperGuineathevicissitudes ofstatesand ethnicgroupsbefore1650 cannotas yet
be correlatedwiththeirintegration intotheslave trade,at least notwithanydegreeof
certainty. As shownabove, demographicand socio-economicimplicationsof thetrade
seemnottohavebeentheprimecause ofthedeclineoftheBanolandBiafara.The first two
centuriesoftheAtlantictradewitnessedtheriseand fallofseveralstates.Jolof, Sankola,
and Mali sufferedcollapse; Kayor,Sin, Salum, Birasu, and Futa Toro rose to new
prominence;Kabu, Landuma,Kokoli, and Susu continuedto enjoy a certainregional
hegemony.Small-scalepolitiesalso faredwell,amongthemtheGambia states.Most of
thesmallkingdomsoftheBanol,Bran,andBiafara,looselyconfederated bysuzerainkings
suchas thoseofBasarel,Bissau,andGuinala,andattimesincorporated byregionalpowers
(Sankola,Kabu, Birasu),also provedstableduringthefirsttwocenturiesof theAtlantic
slavetrade.In southernUpperGuineansocieties,internal processesatworkwereshrouded
and distorted by an outsideintervention,
theMane invasion.
The riseand declineofstatesresultfroma multitude ofinterdependentfactors.Trade,
and specificallythatin slaves,is but one of them.The slave tradeaffectsa societyin
different ways.Most obvious are its demographicimplications.But it also affectsthe
109 Thisisallthemorevalidforseveralahistoric thathavebeenadvanced,

explanations suchas theBanol
andCasanga'nature'ofreadyacculturation tootherethnicidentities,
thestrategic
disadvantageof
centralisedBanol opposedmilitarilyby thedecentralisedFolupo,theadvantageof Foluporice
insupporting
cultivation a highpopulation etc.Theseexplanations
density, do notspecify
thehistoric
conditionsinwhichthefeaturesbecameeffective.
110 RelationsbetweenBanolandFoluponorthoftheCasamance(e.g.LemosCoelho 1953: 115) and
between CasangaandBalantawerestrained andoftenviolent.Thismayhaveresulted from different
modelsofsocialandpoliticalintegrationbasedon differenttypesoflandmanagement.

economic sphere (terms of trade, revenues and their allocation,etc.), leading to

repercussionsin thesocial structures. as well as cultureand religion,
Butthesestructures,
are also affectedby changingnormsand values and otherfeaturesinfluencedby non-
economic consequencesof the slave trade. Consideringour presentlyvery limited
historicalknowledgeabout slaveryand the societiesin question,I leave it to future
withtheslavetradeinUpperGuineain
researchto speculateon thenatureofcorrelations
theperiodof 1548-1650.111The Peruviandata are invaluablein beingan independent
sourcebroadeningourevidentialbasis forsuchfutureanalysisas well as otherfacetsof
history.
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110 StephanBiihnen
Chronology ofmajorhistoricalsources:
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inc. 1600-1620.LemosCoelhowasactiveinUpperGuineainc.
c. 1615.Sandovalcollectedinformation
1640-1665.


Bühnen, S. 1993 Ethnic Origins of Peruvian Slaves (1548-1650) - Figures For Upper Guinea

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Ethnic Origins of Peruvian Slaves (1548-1650): Figures for Upper Guinea

Author(s): Stephan Bühnen

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.78 on Mon, 23 Jun 2014 13:18:33 PM

ETHNIC ORIGINS OF PERUVIAN SLAVES (1548-1650):

As servants,artisans, andauxiliaries, slavesofAfricanoriginwereamongtheentourageof

1 I owe thanksto MartinKlein,P.E.H. Hair,and Adam Jonesforcommentson earlyversionsofthispaper

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WrittensourcesdealingwithAfricainformus about slaveryand the slave tradein

2 Zape inSantoDomingoformed a confraternity in 1650

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theslave.Thisappliesnotonlyto slaves,whowerebornin Africa,butalso to thechildren

"Sales ofNegroslavesin the1530's hardlyevercontainedanyreference to place ofbirthor ethnic

Thus,fromthelate 1540s onwards,we possessfairlyextensiveevidencefortheethnic

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secondarysources.I have nothad a chanceto checkthereliability ofthelists,nordidthe

3 Withtheexception ofHair 1980: 126, 129.

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The Peruvianfiguresdo notrepresent or even crudelyreflectabsoluteexportfigures

"gotto Perubymiscellaneousand variousmeans,as theSpaniardsthemselvesdid. Many Negroescame

This processresulted,at least forthe earlierarrivals,in a thoroughmix of slaves,

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to 4.6 percent.For suchperiodsand ethnicgroups,statistical significanceis reduced,but

Having accepted the Peruvianfiguresas statistically significant,I proceedto their

The Peruviansharesof individualethnicgroupsare confirmed by samplesfromother

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The fairlylargeMexicansampleof 1549 (Table 4) differs fromtheperiod1548-60 inthe

In contemporary Spanish and Portuguesebozales designatedunacculturatedslaves

5 Theearlynumericalpredominance ofJolofo byWolff

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O O '- (N-^tfNi I c5 -- -* 'oO-^Ornr^irirorf fsi

| o^^TfioH-tri^ddd- ' I I I I I ' I ^

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£ , «n p <n so on Tt cN p <n o\ <n p cn

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"§ i^^NO) icn ^t

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*»!^-J V^^ :vA^v\ ^

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BaFlol (Bainunk) Casanga

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Bran Biafara Berbesi Gelofe MandingaBanol Cazanga Zape Tucuxuy total

6 Bran 1 (or4) Bran 3 Bran 5 Bran 3 Bran 3 Brdmes (Bran)

SantoDomingo Cuba Colombia SantoDomingo Colombia Cape VerdeIs.

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(delayed) type,but rathera high degree of simultaneouscorrelation;wheneverthe

Table 6: Slave Samples fromAfricaand fromUpper Guinea (includingBozales)

Africa UpperGuinea Africa UpperGuinea

1548-60 207 162 78.3 1605 473 343 72.5

Fig. 3: Slaves fromUpper Guinea as a Percentageof All Slaves fromAfrica

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This is nottheplace to dwell on the notionof ethnicity. Sufficeit to statethat,in our

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groupof the slave, but the regionof origin,followingthe contemporary Portuguese

10 Sao Domingos:A documentof 1526 in Teixeirada Mota 1969b:546, 568. ValentimFernandes

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1491 de Mantingua}5in 1497 de Sapi (or Capi,theClackinga cedilla),in 1502

14 Teixeirada Mota 1979: 198

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20 Fernandes1951:68. P.E.H.Hairwas thefirst to suggestthisidentification(1980: Table 1).