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African Slavery, Religion,
and Colonial Brazil
Slave Port: Salvador, Brazil
On November 30, 1996, representatives from the Conference on
World Mission and Evangelism, organized by the World Council of
Churches, gathered at a dockside in Salvador, Brazil. The
location was significant. In past centuries at this very port,
millions of Africans had been sold as slaves. "This sea
gathered their tears," remarked one clergyman, referring to
the captives' ill-fated journey.
Saving Lost Souls
In 1441--nearly 60 years before the official discovery of
Brazil--Portuguese navigator Antao Goncalves captured and
transported the first shipment of African tribesmen to Portugal.
Few in medieval society questioned the morality of enslaving
prisoners of war, especially those whom the church labeled as
"infidels." Over the next two decades, however, the
lucrative peacetime slave trade did require justification. Some
claimed that by enslaving Africans, they would be "saving
lost souls," as they were rescuing these foreigners from
their pagan way of life.
| The Bull Romanus Pontifex (Nicholas
V), January 8, 1455 (excerpt)
"And so it came to
pass that when a number of ships of this kind had
explored and taken possession of very many harbors,
islands, and seas, they at length came to the province
of Guinea, and having taken possession of some islands
and harbors and the sea adjacent to that province,
sailing farther they came to the mouth of a certain
great river commonly supposed to be the Nile, and war
was waged for some years against the peoples of those
parts in the name of the said King Alfonso and of the
infante, and in it very many islands in that
neighborhood were subdued and peacefully possessed, as
they are still possessed together with the adjacent sea.
Thence also many Guineamen and other negroes, taken by
force, and some by barter of unprohibited articles, or
by other lawful contract of purchase, have been sent to
the said kingdoms. A large number of these have been
converted to the Catholic faith, and it is hoped, by the
help of divine mercy, that if such progress be continued
with them, either those peoples will be converted to the
faith or at least the souls of many of them will be
gained for Christ." |
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Plantation Slavery & Brazil
The Romanus Pontifex bull, issued by Pope
Nicholas V on January 8, 1455 gave formal support for
the already thriving slave trade. Thus the church was no
bulwark against slavery. On the contrary, some of its
clergymen were "stubborn advocates," observes
Brazilian historian Joao Dornas Filho. The stage was
thus set for slavery to spread to Brazil when Portuguese
colonists settled there. In 1549, newly arrived Jesuit
missionaries were alarmed to discover that much of
Brazil's ork force was made up up illegally captured
Africans. Landowners had simply rounded them up to work
on their plantations. |
| For God or for Gain Fernao de Oliveira, a Portuguese scholar
of the 16th century, asserted that greed--not
evangelical fervor--motivated slave traders. Ships from
Europe carrying manufactured goods bartered for captives
at African ports. these captives were then transported
to the Americas and traded for sugar, which was then
taken back to Europe to be sold. This triangular trade
route generated huge profits both for merchants and for
the Portuguese Crown. Even the clergy stood to gain, for
priests charged a per capita tax for baptizing Africans
before they were carried off to the Americas. |
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Theology of Slavery
As the clergy strove to reconcile Christian values with a
system that was powered by relentless exploitation, they created
a moral support for slavery--what one theologian calls a slavery
theology.
Thus, with clerical blessing the importation of
African slaves steadily increased. Brazil became heavily dependent
on the Atlantic slave trade. By 1768 the Jesuit-owned Santa Cruz
farm had 1,205 slaves. The Benedictines and the Carmelites also
acquired properties and large numbers of slaves. "The
monasteries are full of slaves," cried 19th century Brazilian
abolitionist Joaquim Nabuco. Many of the cleric who protested the
abuse of slaves had a "low regard for Africans" and
"held that discipline, chastisement, and work were the only
way to overcome the slaves' superstition, indolence, and lack of
civility."
Instant Christians?
In the early seventeenth century, it became
customary Africans captured or bought for American slavery to be
baptized before their departure. They received no instruction
whatever before this ceremony, and many and perhaps most had no
previous indication of a Christian God. "So the Christening
was perfunctory" (Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade).
Usually a slave spoke to a slave in his native tongue about their
conversion. "Then a priest would pass among the bewildered
ranks giving to each one a Christian name, which had earlier been
written on a piece of paper. he would then sprinkle salt on the
tongues of the slaves and follow that with holy water. Finally he
might say through an interpreter, "Consider that you are now
children of Christ. You are going to set off for Portuguese
territory, where you will learn matters of the Faith. Never think
any more of your place of origin. Do not eat dogs, nor rats, nor
horses. be content."
Source: Awake! September 8, 2002
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/indig-romanus-pontifex.html * * * *
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update 29 July 2008 |
