O tráfico de escravos africanos foi uma das principais instituições que se desenvolveram desde o fim da Idade Média, alcançando seu apogeu no século XIX, num momento muito singular. O desenvolvimento do capitalismo na Europa, notadamente na Inglaterra, e a abertura econômica das Américas, com a Crise do Antigo Regime e a criação de novos Estados, criaram novas oportunidades, tanto para aqueles que viviam no continente americano, quanto para os europeus. Uma dessas atividades foi a mineração que, no Brasil, já era bem conhecida desde o século XVIII. E muitas das firmas que se instalaram em Minas Gerais, como a Imperial Brazilian Mining Association, utilizaram-se do trabalho de escravos, num comércio interprovincial bem rentável, movimentado inclusive por cidadãos ingleses, indo de encontro a ideia de uma Inglaterra unida contra a escravidão e o tráfico de escravos.
The African Slave Trade was one of the main institutions that developed since the end of the Middle Ages, reaching its peak inthe 19th century at a very unique moment. The development of capitalism in Europe, notably in England, and the economic opening of the Americas, with the Crisis of the Ancien Régime and the creation of new States, created new opportunities, both for thosewho lived on the American continent and for Europeans. One of these activities was mining, which in Brazil was already well known since the 18th century. And many of the firms that settled in Minas Gerais, such as the Imperial Brazilian Mining Association, used the labor of slaves, who were sended to the mining sites by a very profitable interprovincial trade, moved even by English citizens, going against the idea of a United England against slavery and the Slave Trade. This article seeks, through a qualitative and quantitative analysis, to ascertain the performance of this English mining company and which were the subjects of Her British Majesty who were involved in the internal traffic.
