Between 1797 and 1808, U.S. trade emerged as a significant economic force in the South Atlantic, especially in Rio de la Plata markets (present-day Argentina and Uruguay). U.S. traders, in collaboration with local Spanish-American slave traders, imported over eight thousand enslaved Africans into the region within approximately eleven years. They capitalized on Spanish fiscal incentives for the slave trade and the authorization granted to foreigners for the importation of enslaved humans into Spanish ports in the 1790s. Simultaneously, these traders developed a robust trade in commodities and manufactures, skillfully navigating and often circumventing mercantilist constraints.

While previous studies have often considered these trades in isolation, this paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between the trades in manufactures, commodities, financial instruments, and enslaved individuals. Drawing on U.S., Spanish-American, and Luso-Brazilian archives, it examines the strategies of U.S. and Spanish-American merchants in leveraging slave-trade fiscal benefits and trade privileges to bolster trade in manufactures, Atlantic goods, and even bills of exchange. The paper argues that the fiscal and commercial privileges associated with the slave trade also shaped the trades in manufactures, commodities, and financial strategies, extending beyond those directly connected to the trade in enslaved individuals.

Fabrício Prado is an associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary, where he teaches classes on Colonial Latin America and the Atlantic World. Prado is the author of Colônia do Sacramento: o extremo sul da América portuguesa (2002); and Edge of Empire: Atlantic Networks and Revolution in Bourbon Rio de la Plata (2015), which was translated into Spanish as El Borde del Império: redes atlánticas y revolución en el Río de la plata Borbónico (2021). He co-edited the volume of essays Rio de la Plata from Colony to Nations: Commerce, Society, and Politics (2021). Prado is a member of the School of Historical Studies in the IAS, 2024–2025.

Pre-Circulated Paper and Registration

The pre-circulated paper will be available one-week prior to the workshop. The paper will be available to the Princeton University community via SharePoint. All others should request a copy of the paper by emailing Amanda Pinheiro.