1750–1851: The Amazonia region of Brazil, including the ports of Pará and Maranhão, received approximately 140,000 enslaved Africans to support its emerging …

1750–1851: The Amazonia region of Brazil, including the ports of Pará and Maranhão, received approximately 140,000 enslaved Africans to support its emerging agricultural exports. The traffic was initially promoted by the Portuguese crown through the creation of chartered companies to stimulate regional development. Captives were drawn primarily from the Upper Guinea and West Central African regions, reflecting the specific networks of Lisbon-based merchants. Although smaller in scale than the trade to Rio or Bahia, the Amazonian traffic was a crucial part of the Portuguese empire’s effort to diversify its colonial economy. The cessation of the trade in the mid-nineteenth century forced the region to turn to internal labor migrations from other parts of Brazil.