The Portuguese Empire Reshaped in West Central Africa: Political Reconfiguration, Economic Development, and Social Tranformations in the Benguela Region during the height and Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1750-1860.

My dissertation aims to assess the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on the political, economic and social restructuration of the region of Benguela in West Central Africa, which set up the background for twentieth century colonialism, independence, civil war, and the incipient democracy that exists in Angola. Other studies have examined the history of some specific societies in this part of the continent, but my research will innovate in integration an examination of the transformations of the coastal and internal societies. Thus, the Kellogg Institute will get a broader perspective of the roots of long-lasting structural conditions that determine democracy and human development today. This archival research trip to Angola will provide me the opportunity to carry on investigation in archives and libraries in Luanda and Benguela, and these source materials are essential to explore local issues that illustrate the regional dimension in three of my dissertation chapters.