Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva

Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva was a member of the privileged Afro-Portuguese class who had a leading position within the business community of Portuguese Luanda, where white Europeans consisted of a mere thousand people at the time. She emerged as one of the leading slave traders of the booming slave trade between Angola and the Empire of Brazil in the 1830s- and 40s. The slave trade was formally banned in 1836, but continued in practice in Angola, where the economy was dominated by it. She owned several plantations for sugar and coffee, and a three stories palace residence in Luanda, which later became a museum. When Brazil banned slave trade in 1850 and the trade discontinued in practice, she had established herself as a successful banker, investor and financier of merchants, authorities and transport business.