1560-1642: Although the earliest slave-trading voyages to Brazil may have originated in Portugal, the organizational base for the trade shifted rapidly to th…

1560-1642: Although the earliest slave-trading voyages to Brazil may have originated in Portugal, the organizational base for the trade shifted rapidly to the South American colony. Merchants in Brazilian ports like Recife, Salvador da Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro took advantage of the unique South Atlantic trade winds and currents to establish direct two-way trade routes with West Central Africa. This base of operations was further solidified after the Dutch conquest of the Pernambuco region in 1630, which led to Dutch slaving voyages being outfitted locally in Recife rather than in the Netherlands. By the mid-seventeenth century, the South Atlantic system had become a largely distinct commercial enterprise from the northern European trade.