Portugal’s Forgotten Role in Human Trafficking

When discussions of the transatlantic slave trade arise, Britain, France, and America often dominate the narrative.

Yet, long before these powers built their empires on slave labor, Portugal pioneered the system of mass human trafficking from Africa to the Americas.

Beginning in the 15th century, Portugal’s ships became the first European vessels to forcibly transport Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, creating the blueprint for an inhumane system that would last for over 400 years.

This is a part of history that is often hidden or downplayed, even though Portugal was responsible for transporting nearly half of all enslaved Africans during the entire period of the Atlantic slave trade.

From Angola to Brazil, from Mozambique to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, Portugal’s role in commodifying human lives is central to the story of both African exploitation and American development.

The Beginnings: Portugal’s Early Expansion into Africa

Portugal was one of the earliest European maritime powers. In the 15th century, Portuguese explorers such as Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored voyages along Africa’s Atlantic coast. While these missions are often romanticized as adventures of discovery, their real purpose was economic—seeking gold, spices, and eventually, human beings.

• In 1444, the first official slave market in Europe opened in Lagos, Portugal, selling enslaved Africans captured in West Africa.

• By the late 15th century, Portuguese traders had established fortified trading posts along the coasts of Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique, marking the start of a systematic extraction of African labor.

• Unlike earlier forms of slavery in Africa or the Mediterranean, this trade was racialized and industrialized, focused on supplying cheap labor for European-controlled colonies.

Portugal thus laid the foundation for what would become the triangular trade system—slaves from Africa, raw goods from the Americas, and manufactured products from Europe.

Brazil: The Jewel of the Portuguese Slave Empire

Portugal’s colonies in South America, especially Brazil, became the largest destination for enslaved Africans in the entire transatlantic system.

• Between the 16th and 19th centuries, over 4.9 million enslaved Africans were transported to Brazil alone—making it the single largest recipient of African slaves in history.

• Portuguese traders relied heavily on the slave routes from Angola and Mozambique, ripping millions from their homelands and forcing them onto brutal voyages known as the Middle Passage.

Once in Brazil, enslaved Africans were forced to work on sugarcane plantations, which became the backbone of the Portuguese colonial economy. Later, as gold and diamond mines were discovered in the 18th century, enslaved Africans were forced into mining labor under horrific conditions.

The wealth from these plantations and mines flowed directly into Portugal, helping Lisbon rise as a wealthy European capital—while millions of Africans suffered unimaginable cruelty.

The Triangular Trade and Portuguese Wealth

Portugal perfected the triangular trade that became the model for other European empires:

1. From Europe to Africa: Ships left Portugal carrying guns, cloth, and alcohol, which were traded for enslaved Africans, often acquired through coercion or alliances with local African leaders.

2. From Africa to the Americas: The enslaved were crammed into ships, enduring the horrors of the Middle Passage where mortality rates could reach 20%.

3. From the Americas to Europe: Slave-produced goods like sugar, tobacco, coffee, and later cotton were shipped back to Portugal and Europe, enriching the crown, merchants, and aristocrats.

This trade created an economy where human lives were reduced to commodities, fueling Europe’s rise while devastating African societies.

The Catholic Church and Royal Endorsement

Portugal’s monarchy and the Catholic Church jointly justified slavery.

• In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued a papal bull granting Portugal the right to enslave non-Christians in Africa.

• Portuguese monarchs issued royal charters supporting slave trading companies and rewarding explorers with monopoly rights over African territories.

This marriage of religious authority and royal power made the slave trade appear both legal and divinely sanctioned, embedding it into Portuguese national policy.

The Human Cost in Africa

While Portugal grew rich, African societies paid the price.

• Entire communities in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, and Congo were depopulated.

• Wars and raids intensified as local rulers, often under Portuguese influence, supplied captives in exchange for weapons.

• The loss of millions of people over centuries stunted African economic, social, and political development.

Many of the ethnic and regional conflicts in Africa today can be traced to the destructive legacies of this Portuguese exploitation.

The Brutality of Plantation Life

In Brazil and other Portuguese colonies, enslaved Africans endured some of the harshest conditions in the Americas:

• Sugarcane labor was physically exhausting and often fatal due to overwork and lack of medical care.

• Punishments were cruel, including whipping, branding, and mutilation for disobedience or attempted escape.

• Enslaved women were subjected to sexual exploitation, with mixed-race offspring often forced back into servitude.

Unlike in some British colonies, where small enslaved populations could sometimes grow naturally, Brazil’s system was so deadly that it constantly required fresh shipments of enslaved Africans.

Resistance and Rebellion

What’s often hidden from mainstream history is that enslaved Africans resisted Portuguese domination in countless ways:

• Quilombos: Communities of escaped slaves, such as Quilombo dos Palmares, thrived in the Brazilian interior for decades, creating independent societies.

• Cultural survival: Africans preserved their languages, religions (like Candomblé), and music, shaping Brazilian culture despite efforts to erase their identity.

• Revolts: Slave uprisings occurred frequently, challenging Portuguese authority and forcing concessions.

These acts of resistance show that enslaved Africans were not passive victims but active agents of defiance.

The “Abolition” Myth

Portugal officially abolished the slave trade in the 1830s, but illegal trafficking continued well into the late 19th century.

• Slave ships sailed under false flags or used hidden compartments to smuggle captives.

• Brazil itself only abolished slavery in 1888, making it the last country in the Americas to do so—a grim reflection of Portugal’s deep reliance on slavery.

The economic benefits of centuries of slave labor, however, had already cemented Portugal’s role as a beneficiary of one of the greatest crimes against humanity.

Legacy: Portugal’s Hidden Past

Today, Portugal often projects an image of itself as a small, peaceful European nation with a proud maritime history. What is less emphasized is that:

• Portugal was the first European country to industrialize slavery and the last to give it up.

• The cultural, economic, and political consequences of its actions still shape Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau, countries scarred by slavery and colonialism.

• The wealth accumulated by Portugal through slavery helped finance its architecture, universities, and global influence.

Yet, the stories of those millions of enslaved Africans—stripped from their homes, forced into ships, and sold like property—remain under-acknowledged in mainstream history.

Conclusion: Unmasking the Silence

What they don’t teach you about Portugal is that its legacy as the “pioneer of exploration” was built not only on navigation and trade but also on enslavement, trafficking, and exploitation of African lives.

The Portuguese crown, merchants, and elites grew rich from a trade that destroyed African societies, built the foundations of Brazil’s economy, and helped shape the modern global system. To understand the history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, this truth must be brought to light—not as a side note, but as a central chapter in the making of the modern world.

Portugal’s role in the slave trade is not just a story of the past—it is a legacy that still echoes in racial inequality, cultural displacement, and economic disparities across continents today.