Igor’s Reviews > Dutch and Portuguese in Western Africa: Empires, Merchants and the Atlantic System, 1580-1674 > Status Update

"In both the Dutch and the Portuguese societies in Western Africa, a third social group emerged as the outcome of inter-racial relationships between the Europeans and the Africans—the so-called Eurafricans, also mentioned in the Dutch primary sources as mulatten; and in the Portuguese as mestiços, mulatos, crioulos or fi lhos da terra."

More than a 'book'. It is a comprehensive academic work about the subject.

"Th e Dutch, in general, considered the train-ing of slaves to perform skilled activities, such as craf t work, as inef-f i cient, whereas the Portuguese trained enslaved people to carry out numerous activities from the simplest domestic tasks to hard planta-tion work and even highly skilled commercial activities."

"...Dutch posts, where the majority of the military staff , whether high ranking officers, skilled or unskilled soldiers were recruited and sent from Europe. Therefore, both enslaved and freed Africans played a key role in the economic growth and military defense of the Portuguese settlements in Western Africa."

Interesting.

"h e Portuguese Crown, by contrast, sponsored the ‘export’ of exiles and orphans from the Kingdom as early as the 15th century. Cape Verde and São Tomé were the fi rst Portuguese settlements in West-ern Africa to receive forced migrants. Later, Angola also became a major destination for convicts."

People that had nothing to loose. So I can only imagine the vilonce from tho convicts.

"Little attention has been paid to the European migration to Western Africa and the role of free and enslaved Afri-cans as a workforce in the European posts and settlements on this continent."

That is what I am looking for.