Book, Slavery Vol.1 - by Laurentino Gomes

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. After receiving several awards and selling more than 2.5 million copies in Brazil, Portugal and the United States with the series 1808, 1822 and 1889, writer Laurentino Gomes dedicates himself to a new trilogy of reportage books, this time about the history of slavery in Brazil. The result of six years of research and observations, which included trips to twelve countries and three continents, this first volume covers a period of 250 years, from the first auction of African captives recorded in Portugal, on the morning of August 8, 1444, until the death of Zumbi dos Palmares. Among other aspects, the work explains the roots of human slavery in Antiquity and in Africa itself before the arrival of the Portuguese, the beginning of the slave trade to the Americas and its reasons, the numbers, behind-the-scenes and profits of the slave business, in addition to of the trajectory of some of its most important characters, such as Infante Dom Henrique, patron of the great navigations and discoveries of the 15th century and also one of the first major slave traders in the Atlantic. This is a story of pain and suffering whose traces are still visible today in many of the places visited by the author, such as Luanda, in Angola; Help, in Benin; Cidade Velha, in Cape Verde; Liverpool, England; and the Valongo pier, in Rio de Janeiro.The following two volumes, to be published on the eve of the bicentenary of Brazilian Independence, in 2022, will be dedicated to the 18th century, the height of the slave trade, and the abolitionist movement that resulted in the Golden Law of May 13, 1888, reaching the persistent legacy of slavery that still haunts the future of Brazilians today.