Mariana Candido shows how influential the slave trade was in Benguela and its interior, and how significant Benguela was to the slave trade. Moving away from a more traditional demographic analysis approach, she explores the political, economic, and social changes caused by the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Candido contributes to the historiography of the African world, and most importantly, West Central Africa, by reassessing the impact of the slave trade on African societies. In her study, she discusses the nature of cultural changes provoked by colonial encounters and looks specifically at Portuguese colonialism and the expansion of slave societies. Engaging in the debate on the expansion of slavery and slave exports, she shows that the cycles of violence had a profound impact on African and colonial communities. Political instability transformed the Benguela hinterland producing changes in commerce and local institutions.

Through the historiographical contributions above, Candido seeks to do away with a narrative dominated by a north-south approach. In this previous approach, Africans are seen as minor players, and women and enslaved people have no significant role in the narrative. The study, as Candido states, is a result of her reflections on the importance of an Afrocentric approach to history and against the way Africa is portrayed in North America.

Through the study, readers see Benguela was radically transformed by the Atlantic economy, like many other areas involved with the slave trade. The methodology Candido uses for her arguments is an analysis that goes inland to show not only were the coastland societies affected but also those in the interior. The shift away from a demographic analysis allows readers to see the trans-Atlantic slave trade’s impact on the region.

Candido’s work is one of the few full-length book analysis in English to emphasise the centrality of the south Atlantic during the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. By examining Brazilian traders’ importance as slavers and connections between the Portuguese colonies, readers can see how this led to radical transformations. These transformations affected settlement patterns, political systems, and identities in Benguela and its hinterland. This examination moves away from a historiography that presents the local identity as ahistorical and stable.

Candido’s emphasis on understanding the history of Benguela in conjunction with the Atlantic world is significant. It forces the reader to think about the interconnectedness of the Atlantic world and past historical narratives. Using Benguela and its hinterland as a space to explore the greater Atlantic shows how important it is to understand African history. The slave trade cannot be understood without knowing its African roots.

Candido’s emphasis on women allows readers to see women’s involvement with the trade and political realm in Benguela and the interior. However, while Candido claims to mention women more than in previous historical work, I still think the narrative of women was lacking. Throughout the text, women are rarely mentioned as autonomous human beings, outside of their relationships with men. The only chapters that stray from this formula are four and five. This could be due to the lack of quality sources and source material or the hardship of combating a European, male-dominated narrative. While trying to flesh women out in the narrative I think most of the focus of women is on their role as subordinates.

However, the look at women that Candido does take is fascinating. The issue of local African women becoming involved in local businesses in the slave trade after the death of their foreign husbands is an interesting phenomenon. The text states that these women became known as Donas, and many Donas were widows five times over. The rate of marriages shows that African women realised the benefit of miscegenation and creolisation.

Candido’s emphasis on creolisation being one of exchange and cultural adoption and not the domination of European values is something I have not thought about previously. The definition of creolisation that she presents leaves me wondering what other authors are emphasising when they use creolization. Candido’s work with An African Slaving Port in the Atlantic World changes how historians think about Africa and African history in conjunction with the Atlantic.