The ambassadors of slave trade in Portuguese America: diplomacy among tensions and traditions (1795-1805)

• Grant number: 18/11463-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Modern and Contemporary History
• Principal Investigator: Marina de Mello e Souza
• Grantee: Raphael dos Santos Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this project is to analyze a series of historical sources (letters, stories and memories) concerned to the transcultural and transatlantic relations maintained between monarchs of the Dahomey Kingdom and Portuguese-Brazilian authorities, in the period between 1795 and 1805, in which two dahomenian embassies arrived to Bahia. Besides that, there was the dynastic succession between the reigns of Agonglo and Adandozan and resulting changes in the diplomatic relationship between the Portuguese and African kingdoms. I will try to characterize this specific diplomatic tradition and identify the tensions that are inherent to it considering the relationships and the circulation of information and people between the two sides of the Atlantic.