Un marchand italien d’esclaves à Lisbonne à la fin du XVe siècle : Bartolomeo Marchionni

During the second half of the fifteenth century the Portuguese Crown adopted various strategies to control the market for African slaves. In 1486 a contract was agreed with the Florentine merchant Bartolomeo Marchionni: he could in this way import to Portugal the majority of slaves from the region called Rios dos Escravos. Marchionni, however, did not limit his activity to the import of slaves to Lisbon, but he also played an important role in redistributing them to other countries: especially during the 1490s, he was the largest exporter of slaves to Valencia, where he used the Italian Cesare Barzi as an intermediary. But Marchionni also sent slaves to Seville and to Florence, his native country.