Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:10:01.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abolition and the Registration of Slaves and Libertos in Portuguese Mozambique, 1856–76

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2022

Daniel B. Domingues da Silva Open the ORCID record for Daniel B. Domingues da Silva [Opens in a new window]  and
Edward A. Alpers
Daniel B. Domingues da Silva*
Affiliation:
Rice University
Edward A. Alpers
Affiliation:
University of California at Los Angeles
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: domingues@rice.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Beginning in 1856 and ending in 1876, Portuguese colonial authorities in Mozambique registered almost 55,000 enslaved and freed Africans (libertos). The sources for these twinned registration processes are located in the national archives of Portugal and Mozambique. Fragments of the originals survive for only six of the ten districts of the colony, but contemporary copies exist for nearly all districts. Combined, they provide a unique opportunity to understand both the extent of slavery — as opposed to the export slave trade — and the process of abolition in late-nineteenth-century Mozambique. In this article we first describe the registers themselves, then focus on the registration of enslaved and freed Africans, the resistance of slaveholders, and the kinds of information that we can glean from the registers. We also explore the ways in which freed Africans were employed after registration and the extent to which being a liberto implied ‘freedom’. Finally, we consider how the registration led to new laws and policies in Portuguese Africa, opening a new era of European colonialism and imperial expansion.

Keywords

MozambiquePortugalEastern AfricaEast AfricaIndian OceanSouthern Africaslavery abolitionslaverycolonialismimperialism
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , November 2021 , pp. 377 - 393
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 An earlier version of this article was presented as part of the panel ‘Liberated Africans and Libertos in the Western Indian Ocean’ at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (USA), 21 Nov. 2020. All translations are by the authors.

2 Between Oceans and Continents: The Registers of Slave and Freed Africans from Mozambique, (https://africanregisters.org), 2019. Currently only a fraction of the database we created, approximately 14,000 records, is available online. The remaining records will be available soon.

3 da Silva, F. Ribeiro, ‘Counting people and homes in urban Mozambique in the 1820s: population structures and household size and composition’, African Economic History, 45:1 (2017), 46–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The data Ribeiro da Silva cites are available in the Counting Colonial Populations database (http://colonialpopulations.fcsh.unl.pt/), which was established in 2017. For detailed discussion on the creation and purpose of these censuses, see da Silva, F. Ribeiro, ‘From church records to royal population charts: the birth of “modern demographic statistics” in Mozambique, 1720s–1820s’, Anais de História de Além-Mar 16 (2015), 125–50Google Scholar; and A. P. Wagner, ‘População no Império Português: recenseamentos na África Oriental Portuguesa na segunda metade do século XVIII’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2009).

4 African Origins: Portal to Africans Liberated from Transatlantic Slave Vessels, (http://www.african-origins.org/), which was established in 2009 and later folded into the Slave Voyages database; Liberated Africans, (http://www.liberatedafricans.org/), established in 2015; Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade, (https://enslaved.org/), established in 2020. Enslaved would be an exception, but it currently lists only 1,320 records of individuals who were originally from Mozambique.

5 On the biographical turn, see Miller, J. C., ‘A historical appreciation of the biographical turn’, in Lindsay, L. A. and Sweet, J. W. (eds.), Biography and the Black Atlantic (Philadelphia, 2013), 48–65Google Scholar. Despite the urge, the biographical turn is still significantly focused on the Atlantic. A couple of important exceptions centered on Mozambique are Allina, E., ‘Making sense of “modern slavery” in colonial Mozambique: voices from the archives’, in Bellagamba, A., Greene, S. E., and Klein, M. A. (eds.), African Slaves, African Masters: Politics, Memories, Social Life (Trenton, NJ, 2017), 81–103Google Scholar; F. Declich, ‘“A free woman could marry a slave because of hunger”: memories of life in slavery along the northern Mozambique coast’, in Bellagamba, Greene, and Klein, African Slaves, African Masters, 175–200.

6 This is partly the objective of Counting Colonial Populations. More information about that project is available in de Matos, P. T., ‘Population censuses in the Portuguese Empire, 1750–1820: research notes’, Romanian Journal of Population Studies, 7:1 (2013): 5–26Google Scholar.

7 See Allen, R. B., Slaves, Freedmen, and Indentured Laborers in Colonial Mauritius (New York, 1999)Google Scholar; Hopper, M. S., ‘Liberated Africans in the Indian Ocean world’, in Anderson, R. and Lovejoy, H. B. (eds.), Liberated Africans and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807–1896 (Rochester, NY, 2020), 271–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 D. B. Domingues da Silva et al., ‘Between oceans and continents: slavery in Portuguese Mozambique through digital methods in collaborative research’, Journal of World History, 32:2 (2021), 261–80.

9 Rei, ‘Decreto de 14 de Dezembro de 1854’, in Boletim do Conselho Ultramarino: Legislação Novíssima (hereafter BCULN), Volume II (Lisboa, 1869), Title I, Art. 1, 484.

10 Ibid. Art. 2, 484.

11 Ibid. Art. 4, 484–5.

12 Ibid. Title II, Art. 7, 485.

13 Ibid. Art. 7, §1, 485.

14 For the law freeing children born to slave mothers, see Rei, ‘Lei de 24 de Julho de 1856’, in BCULN II, 770–1. For the law freeing slaves that belonged to the church, see Rei, ‘Lei de 25 de Julho de 1856’, in BCULN II, 773. The decree of 29 Apr. 1858 set the end of slavery to 20 years after the decree's publication. The decree of 25 Feb. 1869 converted the status of all slaves to that of freed people and set the end of their labor obligations to the same date determined by the 1858 decree, that is, 29 Apr. 1878. The law of 29 Apr. 1875 anticipated the end of the libertos's servile condition to be 29 Apr. 1876. See Rei, ‘Decreto de 29 de Abril de 1858’, in BCULN, Volume III (Lisboa, 1868), 250–1; Rei, ‘Decreto de 25 de Fevereiro de 1869’, in Collecção da Legislação Novíssima do Ultramar (hereafter COLNU), Volume VI (Lisboa, 1896), 151–3; Rei, ‘Carta de Lei de 29 de Abril de 1875’, in COLNU, Volume IX (Lisboa, 1880), 96–100.

15 Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 5 de Março de 1855’, in BCULN II, 5.

16 Rei, ‘Decreto de 14 de Dezembro de 1854’, Boletim do Governo da Província de Moçambique, 5 Jan. 1856 (part I); 12 Jan. 1856 (part II); and 19 Jan. 1856 (part III). The title of this paper changed in the period under consideration to Boletim do Governo Geral da Província de Moçambique and then Boletim Official do Governo Geral da Província de Moçambique. We have abbreviated the title of all the journal's issues cited here to BOM.

17 E. A. Alpers and B. Zimba, ‘British abolition in southeast Africa: the first 50 years’, Quarterly Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, 63:1–2 (2009), 5–15.

18 Governor General of Mozambique to Governor of Cabo Delgado, no. 264, 8 Mar. 1856, cited in Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique, Fundo do Século XIX (AHM FSXIX) Cod. 11-281 ff. 47-48v, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 56, 14 July 1856. For an example of local announcements, see AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 92-93, ‘Bando de 17 de Maio de 1858’, enclosed with Governor of Cabo Delgado to Captain-Majors of Cabo Delgado, no. 157 circular, 17 May 1858.

19 Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Secretaria de Estado da Marinha e Ultramar (AHU SEMU) Moçambique no. vermelho 1299, petition from residents of the City of Mozambique to His Majesty, 25 Jan. 1856, enclosed with Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 212, 8 Apr. 1856. For the smallpox epidemic, see F. M. Bordalo and J. J. Lopes de Lima, Ensaios sobre a estatística das possessões portuguezas no ultramar, Volume IV (Lisboa, 1859), 133.

20 AHU SEMU Moçambique no. vermelho 1299, petition from residents of the City of Mozambique to His Majesty, 5 May 1856; enclosed with Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 227, 10 May 1856.

21 R. J. Sparks, ‘On the frontlines of slave trade abolition: British consuls combat state capture in Cuba and Mozambique’, Atlantic Studies, 17:3 (2020), 336.

22 AHU SEMU Moçambique no. vermelho 1300, Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 366, 19 Sept. 1857. This letter is missing in the archives, but its content is available in the preamble of Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 12 de Janeiro de 1858’, in BCULN III (Lisboa, 1868), 177. The resolution to which the residents of Sancul refer was a determination taken by the Overseas Council in 1846, which, from their perspective, violated the Constitutional Charter of the Portuguese monarchy. The tax issue was resolved in early 1858, for which see Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 12 de Janeiro de 1858’, BOM, 4 Sept. 1858.

23 For the institution of slaves owning slaves on Zambezi prazos, see A. F. Isaacman and B. S. Isaacman, Slavery and Beyond: The Making of Men and Chikunda Ethnic Identities in the Unstable World of South-Central Africa, 1750–1920 (Portsmouth, NH, 2004), 54.

24 AHU Conselho Ultramarino, Consultas Cx. 18, doc. 794, petition from residents of the town of Quelimane to His Majesty, 18 Mar. 1856; enclosed with Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 213, 8 Apr. 1856,. For an overview of these conflicts, see M. D. D. Newitt, A History of Mozambique (Bloomington, IN, 1995), 298–316.

25 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-281, ff. 47-48v, Governor General of Mozambique to Governor of Cabo Delgado, no. 264, 8 Mar. 1856; cited in Governor of Cabo Delgado to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 56, 14 July 1856.

26 See, e.g., Interim Governor Major José Pacífico, ‘Report on the district of Sofala’, Chiloane, 1 Apr. 1865, BOM, 3 June 1865.

27 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1538, ff. 46v-47, Governor of Inhambane to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 42, 11 Aug. 1856.

28 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-88, f. 17v, Governor of Sofala to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 41, 13 Aug. 1856.

29 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1850, f. 81, Governor of Lourenço Marques to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 13, 24 Feb. 1857. The petition is, however, missing from the archives.

30 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1538, ff. 64-64v, Governor General of Mozambique to District Governors of Mozambique, no. 329, 28 May 1857; cited in Governor of Inhambane to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 92, 17 July 1857.

31 Governo Geral de Moçambique, ‘Portaria de 9 de Junho de 1857’, BOM, 13 June 1857.

32 Ibid.

33 The ‘number of order’ heading refers to the numerical sequence in which masters and slaves appear in the ledgers.

34 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1166, ‘Register of slaves of Bazaruto’, 9 Aug. 1856; AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1168, ‘Register of slaves of Lourenço Marques’, 12 July 1857.

35 AHU SEMU Moçambique no. vermelho 1300, ‘Parte II da ata da sessão do Conselho do Governo de Moçambique’, 27 Oct. 1857; enclosed with Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 381, 27 Oct. 1857.

36 Ibid.

37 Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 12 de Janeiro de 1858’, BCLUN III, 177.

38 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-16 f. 19v, Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 13, 9 May 1859.

39 Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 20 de Fevereiro de 1860’, BOM, 10 Nov. 1860.

40 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-220 ff. 25v-26, Governor General of Mozambique to Governor of Zambézia, no. 8, 25 Jan. 1859. The governor general requested approval of his decision from the central administration in AHU SEMU Moçambique no. vermelho 1305, Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 86, 19 Aug. 1859. The decision was approved by Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, ‘Portaria de 12 de Dezembro de 1859’, BOM, 27 Oct. 1860.

41 Governo Geral de Moçambique, ‘Portaria de 4 de Fevereiro de 1860’, BOM, 11 Feb. 1860.

42 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 91-92, Governor General of Mozambique to Governor of Cabo Delgado, 14 Oct. 1857; cited in Governor of Cabo Delgado to Director of the Treasury and Customs House of Cabo Delgado, no. 156, 17 May 1858.

43 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 91-92, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Director of the Treasury and Customs House of Cabo Delgado, no. 156, 17 May 1858.

44 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 f. 93, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Clerk of the Customs House of Cabo Delgado, no. 158, 17 May 1858.

45 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 92-93, ‘Bando do Governo de Cabo Delgado’, 17 May 1858; enclosed with Governor of Cabo Delgado to Captain-majors of Cabo Delgado, no. 92, 17 May 1858..

46 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 92-93, ‘Bando do Governo de Cabo Delgado’, 17 May 1858; enclosed with Governor of Cabo Delgado to Captain-majors of Cabo Delgado, no. 157, 17 May 1858.

47 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1611 ff. 103-104, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Director of the Treasury and Customs House of Cabo Delgado, no. 176, 22 June 1858.

48 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1899, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Director of the Treasury and Customs House of Cabo Delgado, no. 33, 11 Feb. 1860.

49 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-280, Governor of Cabo Delgado to Governor General of Mozambique, no. 18, 24 Feb. 1860.

50 See the regular publication of revenues received by the Cofre da Junta Protectora dos Escravos e Libertos da Província de Moçambique in the BOM beginning in 25 Nov. 1860 through 24 Jan. 1876, the last year in which the board functioned.

51 E. A. Alpers, ‘Cholera in nineteenth-century Mozambique: the third pandemic, 1859’, Tanzania Zamani: A Journal of Historical Research and Writing, 12:2 (2020), 1-33.

52 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-236 ff. 44v-45, Secretary General of Mozambique to President of the Board of the Protectorate of the Slaves and Freedmen, no. 52, 28 Feb. 1862. See also ‘Districto de Quelimane’, BOM, 1 Mar. 1862.

53 AHU SEMU Moçambique no. vermelho 1310, Governor General of Mozambique to Minister of the Navy and Overseas Affairs, no. 108, 27 May 1862.

54 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1936, ‘Register of freedmen of Cabo Delgado’, 19 Oct. 1875.

55 L. Bonate, ‘Islam in northern Mozambique: a historical overview’, History Compass, 8/7 (2010), 573–93; L. J. K. Bonate, ‘Matriliny, Islam and gender in northern Mozambique’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 36:2 (2006), 139–66; F. Declich, ‘Transmission of Muslim practices and women's agency in Ibo Island and Pemba (Mozambique)’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 7:4 (2013), 588–606.

56 C. Mutiua, ‘O norte de Moçambique entre os séculos XIX e XX: um contexto histórico’, in T. Cruz e Silva, M. G. Mendes de Araújo, and A. N. de Souto (eds.), Comunidades costeiras: Perspectivas e realidades (Maputo, 2015), 233–56; Newitt, History of Mozambique, 187–92.

57 J. Capela, ‘Identity, sex, age and profession of slavery in Mozambique in the nineteenth century’, in B. Zimba, E. Alpers, and A. Isaacman (eds.), Slave Routes and Oral Tradition in Southeastern Africa (Maputo, 2005), 171–94.

58 AHM FSXIX Governo de Cabo Delgado Estante 8-26 Maço 1, Regedoria da Paróquia da Vila do Ibo, ‘Mappa dos pretos fallecidos por occasião do desenvolvimento da epidemia colera morbus na Ilha de Ibo 13 de Fevereiro do 1871 até 31 de Março de 1871’, 13 Apr. 1871. See also M. Echenberg, Africa in the Time of Cholera: A History of Pandemics from 1817 to the Present (New York, 2011), 56–64.

59 J. Romero, Supplemento à memoria descriptiva e estatística do Districto de Cabo Delgado com um notícia acerca do establecimento da Colónia de Pemba (Lisboa, 1860), 20, 40.

60 Governo Geral de Moçambique, ‘Aviso de 16 de Abril de 1859’, BOM, 16 Apr. 1859. Recruitment was fulfilled and the thirty freedmen embarked for Macao on the Galera Viajante on 4 Aug. 1859. See Capitão do Porto de Moçambique, ‘Embarcações saídas’, BOM, 6 Aug. 1859, under heading ‘Movimento do porto de Moçambique de 29 de Julho a 5 d'Agosto de 1859’.

61 Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar, 25 Aug. 1858, BOM, 23 July 1859.

62 BOM, 23 July 1864 (Izidro and Constantino), 21 Jan. 1865 and 9 Sept. 1865 (Carlota).

63 Entries for the treasury of the board in the BOM begin on 20 Apr. 1863 and end on 28 Jan. 1865. There is also a single reference to freedman Augusto as an apprentice carpenter to Zeferino in BOM, 21 Jan. 1865.

64 ‘Relação dos Negros que tiveram cartas de liberdade pela Junta Protectora dos Escravos e Libertos desta provincia, desde a sua instalação até á prezente dia’, BOM, 30 Sept. 1860; ‘Relação dos escravos que tiverão titulo de liberdade pela Junta dos Escravos e Libertos da Provincia de Moçambique desde 7 de Junho do anno proximo findo, até 16 de Fevereiro do corrente’, BOM, 30 Mar. 1861 and 27 July 1861; ‘Relação dos escravos que passarão ao estado de livres pelo Cartorio do Tabellião Cordeiro desde 11 d'Agosto de 1852 até 30 de Julho de 1861’ and ‘Relação dos escravos que passarão ao estado de livres desde 22 de Agosto de 1859 até 30 de Junho de 1981’, BOM, 27 July 1861.

65 See ‘Mappa dos libertos ao cargo da Junta Protectora’, BOM, 30 May 1871 to 24 Jan. 1876.

66 But see Ministério dos Negocios da Marinha e Ultramar, Portaria no. 180, BOM, 26 Sept. 1874, which emphasizes the need to establish the basic conditions of labor contracts.

67 J. de A. Corvo, Estudos sobre as Províncias Ultramarinas, Volume II (Lisboa, 1883), 337.

68 AHM FSXIX Governo Geral Estante 8-6 Maço 3 (1), Board of the Protectorate of the Slaves and Freedmen to Administration of the Council of Mozambique, 16 Aug. 1857; AHM FSXIX Governo Geral Estante 8-6 Maço 3 (1), Board of the Protectorate of the Slaves and Freedmen to Administration of the Council of Mozambique, 4 May 1861; AHM FSXIX Governo Geral Estante 8-6 Maço 3 (1), Board of the Protectorate of the Slaves and Freedmen to Administration of the Council of Mozambique, 9 Feb. 1875,.

69 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1936, ‘Register of freedmen of Cabo Delgado’, entries 86, 87, 101, 105, 160, 162, and 164.

70 In contrast, see K. Ekama, ‘Bondsmen: slave collateral in the 19th century Cape Colony’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 47:3 (2021), 437–53.

71 AHM FSXIX, Cabo Degado, Governo do Distrito, Códice 11-280, J. Romero to Governor General, Ibo, 19 July 1858, with 12 enclosures,.

72 Quoted without reference in J. Duffy, A Question of Slavery: Labour Policies in Portuguese Africa and the British Protest, 1850–1920 (Oxford, 1967), 68.

73 Rei, ‘Decreto de 14 de Dezembro de 1854’, Title III, Art. 22, §1, 487.

74 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1936, ‘Register of freedmen of Cabo Delgado’, entries 154, 156, 465, 524, 662, 759, 919, 1178, 1312, 1319, 1354, 1392, 1788, and 1793. These notes record two cartas de alforria, three ‘freedom letters’ (cartas de liberdade), while nine other individuals were either ‘declared free’ or ‘made free’ without specifying that they received any documentation. In Angola, in addition to registration and as a measure designed to avoid reenslavement (but which also permanently marked an individual as having been a slave), some libertos were branded ‘LIBERTO’ under the outline of a bird in flight. See S. Coghe, ‘The problem of freedom in a mid-nineteenth century Atlantic slave society: the liberated Africans of the Anglo-Portuguese Mixed Commission in Luanda (1844–1870)’, Slavery and Abolition, 33:3 (2012), 485–87. For an illustration of this brand, see J. C. Curto, ‘Producing ‘liberated’ Africans in mid-nineteenth century Angola’, in Anderson and Lovejoy, Liberated Africans, 246.

75 See S. Coghe, ‘Apprenticeship and the negotiation of freedom: the liberated Africans of the Anglo-Portuguese Mixed Commission in Luanda (1844–1870)’, Africana Studia, 14 (2010), 263 and 263n36.

76 For two important comparative examples, see P. Lovejoy, Slow Death for Slavery: The Course of Abolition in Northern Nigeria, 1897–1936 (Cambridge, 1993); and F. Cooper, From Slaves to Squatters: Plantation Labor and Agriculture in Zanzibar and Coastal Kenya, 1890–1925 (New Haven, 1980).

77 ‘Administração do Concelho de Moçambique’, BOM, 27 Apr. 1872.

78 For an example of how this legislation could create complications, see Leandro Pereira, Administração de Moçambique, ‘Avizo’ of 25 July 1867, BOM, 28 July 1867.

79 ‘Campanhia da policia—occorrencias havidas desde 25 do mez findo a 1 do corrente’, BOM, 4 Dec. 1876.

80 Allen, R. B., ‘Vagrancy in Mauritius and the nineteenth-century colonial plantation world’, in Beier, A. L. and Ocobock, P. (eds.), Cast Out: Vagrancy and Homelessness in Global and Historical Perspective (Athens, OH, 2008), 140–61Google Scholar; Martens, J., ‘Polygamy, sexual danger, and the creation of vagrancy legislation in colonial Natal’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 31:3 (2003), 24–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pluskota, M., ‘Freedom of movement, access to the urban centres, and abolition of slavery in the French Caribbean’, International Review of Social History, 65:S28 (2020), 93–115CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

81 See, for example, ‘Relação dos libertos pertencentes a João da Costa Soares, a quem se deu baixa ao respective registo, a requerimento do mesmo, por haverem fugido ou fallecido’, BOM, 25 Nov. 1871; and ‘Relação dos libertos pertencentes a Bernadino Antonio da Silva Gomes, a quem se deu baixa ao respective registo, a requerimento do mesmo, por terem fugido uns, outros fallecido’, BOM, 2 Nov. 1872.

82 ‘Regulamento para execução da portaria regia de 23 de junho de 1881 pela qual foi permittido o contrato de trabalhadores livres para as colonias de Mayotte e Nossi-bé’, in Ministerio da Marinha e Ultramar, Relatorios dos governadores das provincias ultramarinas: Provincias de S. Thomé e Principe e de Moçambique, anno de 1883 (Lisboa, 1889), 122–3.

83 For background, see Alpers, E. A., ‘“Le caractère d'une traite d'esclaves déguisée (the nature of a disguised slave trade)”? Labor recruitment for La Réunion at Portuguese Mozambique, 1887–1889’, Ufahamu, 40:1 (2018), 7–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For O'Neill's comments, see The National Archives of the UK, London (TNA) Foreign Office (FO) 541, Confidential Prints, Slave Trade 25 (1883) 234, no. 36, Consul O'Neill to Earl Granville, 12 Oct. 1882.

84 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1936, ‘Register of freedmen of Cabo Delgado’. According to the register, Gonzaga registered 15 libertos in 1860, 25 in 1861, 50 in 1871, and 10 in 1872.

85 TNA FO 541, Confidential Prints, Slave Trade 25 (1883) 34, no. 44, Consul O'Neill to Earl Granville, 15 Feb. 1883.

86 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1932, Government of Cabo Delgado, ‘Registo dos contratos provisórios dos indivíduos que em virtude da Régia Portaria de 23 de Junho 1881, e regulamento respectivo, emigrarem para Mayotte e Nossi-Bé’, 20 Mar. 1884. The closure of this register indicates that it was created at Ibo on 20 December 1894.

87 AHM FSXIX Cod. 11-1836, Government of Cabo Delgado, ‘Registo dos bilhetes de identidade referidos aos pretos da villa do Ibo e Continente’, 16 Apr. 1894.

88 AHM FSXIX Governo de Cabo Delgado Estante 8-28 Maço 1 (3), Bernardino de Barros Coelho, ‘Relação dos serviçaes’, 30 Mar. 1894. The three individuals are Selimane Luniça (liberto no. 271, Selimani, male Macua, age 24), Sahide (liberto no. 260, Saidi, male Yao, age 24), Machude (liberto no. 253, Chudi, male Macua, age 12), all employed as sailors and resident beyond (além de) Rua de 27 de Julho. See also in the same document, no. 126, ‘Amade pastor de gado de Bernadino de Barros Coelho, morador no Ibo alem da Rua 27 de Julho’, Ibo, 5 Apr. 1894. It is not clear if this Amade is the same man listed simply as a servant in the previous document.

89 Rei, ‘Carta de Lei de 29 de Abril de 1875’; and ‘Decreto de 21 de Novembro de 1878’, in COLNU, Volume IX (Lisboa, 1880), 701–11. For the Labor Code of 1899, see ‘Regulamento do trabalho dos indígenas’, in Rei, ‘Decreto de 9 de Novembro de 1899’, in COLNU, Volume XXVII (Lisboa, 1901), 532–44. See also Newitt, History of Mozambique, 383–5; and V. Zamparoni, ‘Da escravatura ao trabalho forçado: teorias e práticas’, Africana Studia, 7 (2004), 299–325.

90 C. N. da Silva, Constitucionalismo e império: A cidadania no ultramar português (Lisboa, 2009), 61.

91 Enes, A., Moçambique: Relatório apresentado ao Governo de Sua Magestade (Lisboa, 1893)Google Scholar; Costa, E., Estudo sobre a administração civil das nossas possessões africanas: Memória apresentada ao Congresso Colonial Nacional (Lisboa, 1903)Google Scholar; d'Andrade, F., Relatórios sobre Moçambique (Lourenço Marques, 1907)Google Scholar.