Fontes coloniais e escravidão: relações de trabalho e práticas culturais na América portuguesa

The intense transatlantic slave trade resulted in the kidnapping of approximately 12.5 million Africans, between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the main ports in Portuguese America being the ports of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Pernambuco. Through the analysis of manuscripts, the aim is to exercise the political, social and historical role of Philology, fundamental science in the construction of History, taking as an object of analysis the registration, in notarial documents, of the new social and professionals profiles built in the African diaspora, in colonial Bahia. To this end, a transdisciplinary theoretical framework that establishes the dialogue between Philology and other related sciences, such as Paleography, a science that guides the reading of manuscripts, from Diplomatics, for the assistance it provides in the analysis of forms, of Sociology of texts, which observes the past testimonies in their context, of cultural history, to support the study of cultural practices and onomastics, which helps to understand the social profiles of the period. The study demonstrates the importance of knowledge of the past for the understanding of the present reality.