ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN BRAZIL MAY 13-1888

Murphy Browne @ May 10-2018

 ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN BRAZIL MAY 13-1888


“Whoever would like to buy three native slave women from Angola, who have come recently f...rom that place, one who irons and does laundry, another a baker and laundress, and the third also a laundress, all with very good figures and the ability to do every kind of work in the house, should contact Manoel do Nascimento da Mata, Rua Direita No. 54, first floor.”

Advertisement from “Diario do Rio de Janeiro” December 17, 1821.

On May 13, 1888 Brazil became the last country in the Americas to abolish the enslavement of Africans. Two years before on October 7, 1886 slavery had been abolished in Cuba. The advertisement for the sale of enslaved African women in the December 17, 1821 publication was one of many such advertisements in “Diario do Rio de Janeiro.” It was the leading newspaper of Rio de Janeiro published from June 1, 1821 – October 30, 1878 and carried advertisements for the sale, purchase and rental of enslaved Africans in Brazil. There were also advertisements seeking help in capturing “runaways” and offering rewards for the recapture of those Africans who fled their enslavement. In the same “Diario do Rio de Janeiro” December 17, 1821 edition this advertisement was published: “On November 20 a Mozambique slave named Martinho fled from a ranch at the Engenho Novo. He is still unacquainted with the country, a boy with a beard, and he ran away with a chain attached to his leg. Anyone knowing anything about him should come to Rua do Sabao to the house of Major Manoel dos Santos Portugal, who is his master and will pay for the trouble involved.”
The advertisements contained detailed physical description, skills and even clothing of the Africans. The advertisements also reveal the callous and inhumane mindset of the Europeans who enslaved the Africans. The Africans were frequently “branded” as described in this advertisement: “On the 2lst of this month a new slave who recently came from Angola fled from Valongo warehouse No. 106. On his left breast he has a brand mark in the shape of an "S" set in the middle of a triangle. Anyone with news of him should go to the same warehouse, where he will find his master, who will give him a good reward.”




The Africans who fled their enslavement frequently headed for freedom in a quilombo. A quilombo is described as “a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin including the Quilombolas, or Maroons.” The most famous and successful quilombo was Palmares established in 1594 by Africans who fled enslavement and survived and thrived for 100 years until 1694. Palmares had a population of 30,000 by 1694 when Zumbi the last leader of Palmares was betrayed by one of his own people which led to the destruction of the community. Some of Zumbi’s followers who escaped the carnage of the Portuguese attack on Palmares, escaped to live in other quilombos. Enslaved Africans continued to flee until slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888. Some of the quilombos were so well hidden that they were never discovered by the Portuguese and the inhabitants lived in freedom and seclusion. In one case the inhabitants of a quilombo (Remanso, Bahia) were unaware until they were discovered in the 1960s that slavery had been abolished for more than 70 years!




Enslaved Africans also attempted armed resistance in pursuit of freedom. One of the most well-known instance of armed resistance was the “Revolta dos Malês” of 1835 which was the uprising of a group of enslaved Muslim Africans in Bahia. The Portuguese referred to the African Muslims as “Malê.” Enslaved Africans in Bahia had made attempts at seizing their freedom in 1807, 1809, 1814, 1816, 1822, 1824, 1826, 1827, 1828, 1830, 1831 and then came the uprising of 1835. The Malê uprising also known as “The Great Revolt” was scheduled to begin on a Sunday in January 1835, in Bahia. The group included enslaved and free Africans. Most of them (Hausa and Yoruba) were taken from West Africa and were already Muslim converts before they were captured and enslaved by the Portuguese. The uprising was scheduled to take place on the feast day of Our Lady of Guidance, a celebration in Bonfim, a time when many of the Catholic Portuguese would leave Bahia to travel to Bonfim for the weekend to celebrate. The African freedom fighters were strategic in choosing the date because there would be fewer Portuguese civilians and military in Bahia. In his 1995 published book “Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia” Portuguese Brazilian historian João José Reis wrote: “The celebration would take many people, off to the distant locale of Bonfim. A good part of the police force would also head in that direction in order to keep the celebrators in line.”




While the uprising was scheduled to take place on Sunday, January 25, the freedom fighters were forced to start before the planned time. On Saturday January 24, several incidents of betrayal conspired to force the freedom fighters to move the action up to Saturday night. Almost like a grim “tragedy of errors” the Africans found themselves having to change plans unexpectedly with disastrous results. With the Portuguese authorities alerted and the Africans outnumbered and outgunned the result of the planned insurrection was inevitable.




Although the Africans in Bahia did not successfully end their enslavement in 1835, the Portuguese and other European slaveholders in Brazil were forced to reckon with the spectre of what could have been a repeat of Haiti 34 years earlier in 1801. The “Revolta dos Malês” of 1835 sounded the death knell for Brazilian slavery which ended 53 years later on May 13-1888. Continued African resistance ended slavery in Brazil as everywhere else where Africans were enslaved.

 Murphy Browne @ May 10-2018