Commercial relations between the port of Salvador and the hinterland of Jacobina based on powers of attorney registered in the Notary Offices of Salvador (1722-1816)

Abstract

The village of Santo Antônio da Jacobina was founded in 1722 due to the discovery of gold in its rivers. The site soon attracted many people seeking of gold, creating a trade network in the backlands. From the port of Salvador, caravans transported enslaved Africans, manufactured goods from Europe, and luxury items from the East; from the hinterlands of Piauí came cattle to feed the population. All transactions were paid in gold! This article aims to present preliminary results of a research project on the trade developed between Salvador and Jacobina To this end, notarial powers of attorney registered in 29 notary books of Salvador (1722-1816) will be analyzed. This documentation allows us to identify the main agents in Salvador who issued powers of attorney and the main attorneys established in Jacobina and its surroundings areas. Finally, the paper presents some commercial transactions involving credit, gold and enslaved Africans between the two regions. The use of notarial powers of attorney from a village or city as a means of understanding the merchant group and its trade in other regions is a methodological possibility that can be replicated to achieve objectives similar to those of this article.