In 1871, 2956 enslaved African(s) were “liberated” in a state-run scheme usually resulting in involuntary indentures, conscription, or re-enslavement. Under the jurisdiction of 14, Case ID LA-E-1053 occurred via the Distritos (unspecified), Angola
| RegID | LA-E-1053 |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Libertos* |
| Year | 1871 |
| Government Department | Ministério do Ultramar, Reino de Portugal |
| Court | Distritos (unspecified), Angola |
| Trial Outcome | Condemned |
| Enslaved Total | 2956 |
| Liberated Africans Total | 2956 |
| Registered Total | 0 |
| Notes | On 10 December 1854, he decreed that every slave in the said territories had to be registered within thirty days by their owners in the respective colonial administrative units where they resided, with failure to comply resulting in slaves having their status changed to that of libertos; slaves owned by the state and those imported via land were to be immediately given the status of liberto; and both registered slaves and the “liberated” were to come under the tutelage of the state through a Junta Protetora dos Escravos e Libertos, to be established in each colony and with its own obligation to assist the enslaved in gaining liberto status. Other decrees soon followed. On 30 June 1856, a proclamation immediately turned enslaved individuals owned by municipal councils and misericórdias, or charitable organizations, throughout the overseas territories of Portugal into libertos. Then on 26 July of the same year, it was ordered that children born to enslaved females were to be henceforth free but obliged to serve the masters of their mothers until the age of twenty. Within days of this order, another provision turned enslaved persons owned by the Catholic Church into libertos, but estimates as to how many remain largely unknown. On 25 February 1869, the government of Portugal then decreed all remaining slaves throughout its overseas possessions to henceforth be libertos: those thus “liberated,” however, had to continue serving their former masters until 1878, when slavery was intended to come to an end. Finally on 29 April 1875, Lisbon abolished the status of liberto altogether and scheduled full emancipation for three years later. Within the first five years of the 1854 decree, a total of 13,674 enslaved individuals had officially gained the status of liberto. Another 16,585 followed between 1860 and 1863. From 1863 to 1873, an even larger contingent of 32,524 enslaved persons officially became libertos. Between 1854 and 1873, over 60,500 enslaved individuals had seen their status substituted by that of liberto, with 31,768 remaining in that ambiguous condition at the end of this period. In Angola, there were upwards of 62,783 libertos (13,674+16,585+32,524). Annual estimates are imputed as averages based on the available information. Curto has recently indicated that there are "liberto registers housed in the Arquivo Nacional de Angola (Luanda): some 30 registers in all... [but] there are probably more that have yet come to the surface" (email, 22 Nov. 2021). |
| Sources | René Pélissier, Les guerres grises: Resistance et revoltes en Angola (1845–1941) (Orgeval: Pélissier, 1977), 69-70; José C. Curto, “Producing 'Liberated' Africans in Mid-Nineteenth Century Angola,” in Richard Anderson, and Henry B. Lovejoy, Liberated Africans and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807-1896 (Rochester: Rochester University Press, 2020), 246-247. |
| Cite as |
| X Capture | |
|---|---|
| Y Capture | |
| Ship Status | Unknown |
| Date of departure from a place or port in Africa generally following the purchase of enslaved people. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of departure from Africa. Required entry. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. | West Central Africa (unspecified) |
| Place or port of departure from Africa, if known. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | |
| Capture date at sea or on land, if known. Date of the sentence. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Location | |
| Navy | |
| Ship | |
| Captain | |
| Supporting Ships | |
| Sentence Date | |
| Date of arrival to the place where the trial, purchase, or asylum occurred, resulting in "liberation" and indenture. Includes YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of arrival around the world. Required field. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. Other regions outside of Africa include, Western Europe, East Coast of North America, etc. | West Central Africa (unspecified) |
| Place or port of arrival around the world. Required field. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | West Central Africa (unspecified) |