Lisbon: Guide Small-Group Historical Walking Tour - The Slave Trade

About This Experience

In the first half of the 15th century, Portugal under the guidance of Prince Henry the Navigator, began what we now refer to as the Atlantic Slave Trade. This trade saw approximately 12.5 million Africans sold into slavery and taken across the ocean to the Americas. It was a brutal trade that lasted for four centuries. In this walking tour, you will learn how the Slave Trade shaped Portugal's development. You will be guided along back streets and main avenues, monuments, churches and public squares that have a connection with this history and can offer insight into how Lisbon was marked by slavery. We will address various topics such as the birth of the slavery in the Iberian peninsula, the start of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Age of Discovery, the day-to-day aspects of the life of an enslaved person living in historical Lisbon, the importance of Brazil, the abolition of the trade in Portugal, the Portuguese colonies in Africa and their struggle for independence.