The National Museum of Slavery (Portuguese: Museu Nacional da Escravatura) is located in Morro da Cruz,

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

History

The museum was founded in 1977 by the National Institute of Cultural Patrimony, with the objective of depicting the history of

slavery in Angola Slavery in Angola existed since the late 15th century when Portugal established contacts with the peoples living in what is the Northwest of the present country, and founded several trade posts on the coast. A number of those peoples, like the Im ...

. The museum adjoins the Capela da Casa Grande, a 17th-century structure where slaves were baptized before being put on

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

s for transport to the Americas. The museum displays hundreds of items utilized in the slave trade, and is located in the former property of Álvaro de Carvalho Matoso, captain of the presidio of the Forte de Ambaca, Fortaleza da Muxima, and Forte de Massangano in Angola, and one of the largest slave-traders on the African coast in the first half of the 18th Century. Matoso died in 1798, and his family and heirs continued in the slave-trade until 1836, when a decree by Maria II of Portugal prohibited the export of slaves from the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...

References

Sources

Museu da Escravatura conta com novos livros sobre a escravidão

External links

{{Authority control Museums in Luanda Historiography of Angola Slavery museums Museums established in 1997 1977 establishments in Angola