Brazilian Gold and the Commercial Sector in Oporto, 1710-1750

In the historiography on the Atlantic in the Early Modern period, Oporto has been primarily associated with emigration and the export of wine. This is an essay in compensatory history in that it argues that Oporto, already the major city of northern Portugal and a major emporium, became a preferred (with Lisbon) destination for consignments of Brazilian gold. As a player in the Atlantic bullion-carrying trade, Oporto became an active participant in a European network of institutions, merchants, bankers, and individuals, which disseminated Brazilian gold from Portugal to northern Europe and as far east as Italy. Oporto was the hub from which consignments were distributed throughout northern Portugal. Based on ships’ manifests, which indicate consignors and consignees (individual, institutional, lay, and clerical), this essay focuses on recipients identifiable as part of the commercial sector in Oporto and provides new information on partnerships of British businessmen, on Portuguese-Brazilian collaboration, and on resident Dutch and German merchants. Brazilian gold contributed to an urban florescence that embraced art, architecture and the fine arts, social philanthropy and public health, and urban infrastructure in the first half of the eighteenth century.