Slave Trade
Relations between both kingdoms deteriorated rapidly after 1510. The discovery of Brazil in 1500 and the need for labor to work on the Portuguese plantations in Brazil, Cape Verde and São Tomé led Portugal to look for more slaves. As the Portuguese's demand for black slaves grew, the pressure on the Kongo kings increased. With the Kongo king Afonso I complaining in 1526 to his Portuguese counterpart, John III, bitterly of the damage done to his kingdom by this trade, which was depopulating whole areas and leading to constant wars with his neighbors. At some point even members of the royal family were taken and deported as slaves to work on these plantations. It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century European traders took about 350,000 slaves from the region of the present-day Republic of Congo.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Republic Of The Congo
Famous quotes containing the words slave and/or trade:
“The ant, who has toiled and dragged a crumb to his nest, will furiously defend the fruit of his labor, against whatever robber assails him. So plain, that the most dumb and stupid slave that ever toiled for a master, does constantly know that he is wronged.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“a highly respectable gondolier,
Who promised the Royal babe to rear
And teach him the trade of a timoneer
With his own beloved brattling.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)