People database
People from the Italian peninsula involved in the Atlantic slave trade and slavery, 15th–19th centuries. Search by name or filter by role, place, network and period.
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Carrega Esteban
1520–1540In 1526 he brought a cargo of 100 enslaved people from the African coasts to Santo Domingo. He then made further voyages between Seville, the African coasts and Hispaniola under Castro's licence.
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Castelletto Agostino
1656In June 1655 one of his ships, the Nostra Signora della Guadalupe, commanded by Giovanni Battista Piuma, was seized after arriving at Luanda: Portugal had rebelled against Spain and the Genoese, allies of Spain, were treated there as enemies. In December 1655 Castelletto asked the Overseas Council in Lisbon for free access to the port of Luanda; in a consulta of 9 January 1656 the Council approved the transit of the Genoese ships belonging to him and to Francesco Maria Rosso.
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Falconi Bernardo
1641–1646A Genoese sailor, he agreed to transport the Capuchin friars to the Congo in exchange for permission to capture and enslave Africans in order to sell them in the Americas.
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La Chiapella Geronimo
1769–1810Born in 1742, La Chiapella first engaged in the trade in goods and enslaved people between the French and Spanish islands of the Caribbean, including Saint-Domingue, Martinique and Cuba, before settling in New Orleans. His first documented sale in the city dates from 18 September 1769, when Manuel Roch bought from him for 200 dollars a three-year-old Creole boy named Joseph. Between 1783 and 1793 he appeared in numerous transactions and sold hundreds of enslaved people. In 1788 alone he appeared in 68 transactions, more than any other merchant in the city; among the twenty-five merchant-traders of New Orleans who dealt in enslaved people, he was the fifth most active. From 1790 he invested the wealth he had accumulated in real estate: he purchased several plantations in the vicinity of New Orleans, in Florida and in Mississippi, and became the owner of hundreds of enslaved people.
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Malaboto Juan Pablo
1639Captain and trusted man of the Genoese Nicola Salvago, he organised voyages and deliveries of cargoes of enslaved people, probably coming from the Luso-African factorías.
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Rodriguez Juan
1520–1529A ship's captain of Genoese origin living in Seville, he was one of the most important agents of Grimaldi and Centurione in Santo Domingo. Although above all a seaman, he enjoyed their full confidence, and he also began to trade on his own account and to make profits. He made loans and went so far as to purchase vessels such as the Santa Maria and the Trinidad. He probably died in 1529.