Portuguese participation in the slave trade 125direct for the purchase of a specified number of slaves against the payment of
a per capita duty. Lastly, the crown sometimes had recourse to direct manage-
ment through an administrator. This system was rarely used, and was only a
temporary measure to tide over the interval between two contracts. At certain
times these systems co-existed. Farming-out contracts and licences came within
the purview of the royal institutions, such as the Casa da Guiñé (later known
as the Casa da Guiñé e Mina, and then as the Casa da India), of which the
Casa dos Escravos was one section. Persons authorized to deal in slaves were
also allowed to deal in imported barter goods.
Table 1 is a list drawn up by Antonio Carreira of the main farming-out
contracts from the end of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the seven-
teenth :TABLE 1. Farming-out contracts, 1486-1642.Date1486-93
1490-95
1500-031502-03
1504-061505-071509-12
1510-131510-131511-13
1511-13
1527-30
1536-37
1562-68
1574-80
Area farmed outSlave River
Guinea rivers
Gambia and
Cantor riversSlave River
Sao ToméGuinea riversGuinea rivers
Säo Tiago and
Fogo Islands (Cape
Verde) and Guinea
Sierra LeoneSäo Tomé
Senegal River
Cape Verde
Guinea
GuineaGuinea, Säo
Tiago and FogoContractorBartolomeu Marchione
Bartolomeu Marchione
Joäo Rodrigues
MascarenhasFernäo de Lorenhas
Joäo de Fonseca and
Antonio Carneiro
Joäo Rodrigues
MascarenhasFrancisco Martins
(unidentified)Joäo de Castro and Joäo
de Lila
Joäo Fonseca
(unidentified)
Ascenso Martins
Afonso Lopes de Torres
Antonio Gonçalves de
Gusmäo and Duarte de
Leäo
Francisco Munes de
Beja and Antonio
Munes do AlgarveNotes—
This contract was cancelled
after two years, at the
contractor's request, in
favour of Filipe and Diego
Lopes.
—
—
Mascarenhas died before
the expiry of the contract,
and it pas sed in 1607 to
Afonso Lopes dos Couros
—
Payment was to be made
in slaves— — — — — —