Pedro Blanco (1795–1854) was a notorious Spanish slave trader based in
Gallinas on the coast of
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
between 1822 and 1838. Before entering the
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, Blanco ran a sugar mill in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
Blanco sailed to Africa on the ''Conquistador'', one of his ships, to participate in the lucrative and well-established
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
. He began trading in African slaves in 1822, and by 1839 he controlled a network that fed Cuba, the United States and Brazil with slaves for plantations. Blanco expanded his operation by establishing a working relationship with the local ruler, African King
Siaka of Gallinas (Vai).
He eventually had agents stationed at Cape Mount,
Shebar,
Digby,
Nuevo Sestos and elsewhere. Blanco entered a partnership with one Lino Carballo, with a center of operations in Havana and other branches in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
,
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
, and the
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
. His mercantile standing was so high that his credit bills were enthusiastically accepted in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and many other well-known financial centers.
In
Lomboko
Lomboko was a slave factory in what is today Sierra Leone, controlled by the infamous Spanish slave trader Pedro Blanco (slave trader), Pedro Blanco. It consisted of several large depots or barracoons for slaves brought from the interior, as well ...
, Blanco built himself a private kingdom with storehouses on an island, his office on another island, and houses for his African wives on yet a third island. Slaves awaiting shipment were housed on the islands of Taro and Kamasun. In 1838, Blanco left Africa for Cuba and went to
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, all the time trading in slaves. He left Gallinas just before most of the ''
La Amistad
''La Amistad'' (; Spanish for ''Friendship'') was a 19th-century two- masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard colonizing Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been captured and sold to European slave ...
'' Africans reached his stockades, but he left behind a network of employees to continue his business. It is likely that some of them handled the ''Amistad'' Africans. At any rate, he played a vital part in the development of the slave trade in this region. Due to military pressure from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, Blanco's business finally collapsed in 1848, and in 1854 he died in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
.
References
*.
*.
*Lino Novas Calvo, Pedro Blanco, el negrero (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1973)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Pedro
Spanish slave traders
1854 deaths
1795 births
19th-century Spanish businesspeople
African slave traders