Brazil, Britain, and the slave trade

Launching today, “The Brazilian Report’s To Be Read” introduces a video book club featuring conversations with authors on various aspects of Brazil’s history and contemporary political landscape. In our inaugural session, the discussion will delve into the transatlantic slave trade and international law of the 19th century.

Brazil notably received the largest number of enslaved individuals globally, with over 4 million African men, women, and children arriving at Brazilian ports from the 16th century to the mid-19th century, as reported by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

The abolition of slavery only occurred in 1888, and the social repercussions of this pivotal event significantly shaped Brazil’s national identity, a legacy that endures today.

Our guest today is Adriane Sanctis, a current researcher at Harvard University. She is the author of “Seeking Capture, Resisting Seizure – An International Legal History of the Anglo-Brazilian Treaty for the Suppression of the Slave Trade (1826–1845),” published this year by the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory. The book explores Britain’s actions during this era and how the newly independent Brazilian state responded.

According to Ms. Sanctis, “One might assume that Brazilians would have disregarded the treaty completely after ratification (…), but a different narrative unfolded with the mechanisms it established.”

Her research demonstrates that Brazilian representatives were highly motivated to rigorously apply the treaty’s provisions and leverage them to safeguard their newly acquired sovereignty against British interests.

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