Manoel Pinto da Fonseca (slave trader)

{{Infobox person

| name =

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1804|10|10}}

| birth_place = Moure, Porto, Portugal

| death_date = {{Death date|df=y|1855|10|20|1804|10|10}}

| death_place = Paris, France

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation =

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Manoel Pinto da Fonseca (10 October 1804{{snd}}20 October 1855) was a 19th-century businessman described as "the most notorious slave dealer in all Brazil".{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Lawrence F. |date=1931 |title=The Abolition of the African Slave Trade to Brazil |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2506274 |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=169–197 |doi=10.2307/2506274 |jstor=2506274 |issn=0018-2168}} His business was a "highly organized mercantile house capable of operating on four continents" and may have had up to 50 employees.{{Cite thesis |last=Karasch |first=Mary |date=1967 |title=The Brazilian Slavers and the Illegal Slave Trade 1836–1851 |url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/31082/1087449.pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=University of Wisconsin |degree=M.A.}} pages 13 (deported), 27 ("highly organized")

Biography

Da Fonseca was born in the Porto region of Portugal in 1804.{{Cite book |last=Mesquita |first=João Marcos |title=HISTÓRIAS DE ESCRAVIDÃO E PÓS-EMANCIPAÇÃO NO ATLÂNTICO (SÉCULOS XVIII AO XX) |year=2022 |isbn=978-65-89503-41-5 |pages=123–141 |language=pt-br |chapter=“COMERCIANTE PAR EXCELLENCE”: O MERCADO ILEGAL DE ESCRAVOS DE MANOEL PINTO DA FONSECA}} He entered the business around 1837 in company with his brothers.{{Cite journal |last=Conrad |first=Robert |date=1969-11-01 |title=The Contraband Slave Trade to Brazil, 1831-1845 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/49/4/617/157301/The-Contraband-Slave-Trade-to-Brazil-18311845 |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |language=en |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=617–638 |doi=10.1215/00182168-49.4.617 |issn=0018-2168|doi-access=free }} According to a British report based on a declaration by Da Fonseca, his profits in 1844 were £150,000. He trafficked enslaved people from Angola and the coast near the Congo River. In 1844 or 1845, Da Fonseca bought the slaving brig Uncas from Cuban shippers who had in turn bought it from American slave trader William H. Williams of Washington, D.C.{{Cite news |last1=Rothman |first1=Joshua D. |last2=Skolnik |first2=Benjamin |date=2021-12-04 |title=The Brig Named Uncas |language=en-US |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/12/domestic-slave-trade-us-history-uncas.html |access-date=2023-10-08 |issn=1091-2339}} Porpoise and Kentucky were also Da Fonseca's ships.{{Cite web |last=Cummins |first=Sharon |title=Mainers engaged in the slave trade in the 1800s |url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/york-star/2010/02/18/mainers-engaged-in-slave-trade/51696771007/ |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=Portsmouth Herald |language=en-US}}

Da Fonseca's major competitors in Brazil were José Bernardino de Sá and Tomás da Costa Ramos; all three hired U.S.-flagged ships and American captains and sailors during what was known as the "contraband era".{{Cite journal |last=Marques |first=Leonardo |date=November 2015 |title=The Contraband Slave Trade to Brazil and the Dynamics of US Participation, 1831–1856 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022216X15000929/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |language=en |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=659–684 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X15000929 |s2cid=143297376 |issn=0022-216X}}

Da Fonseca was deported to Portugal in 1851. He died in Paris in 1855.

Manoel Pinto da Fonseca (slave trader)

Biography

See also

References

Further reading