CROSSING EMPIRES: Portuguese, Sephardic, and Dutch Business Networks in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1580-1674.

The article examines the history of Dutch, Portuguese, and Sephardic financial and commercial networks within the Atlantic slave trade between 1580 and 1674. It explores how diplomatic relations between Dutch and Portuguese merchants were strained due to the Portuguese empire's monopolistic relationship with slaver traders in Western Africa and analyzes ways in which the Portuguese Restoration of 1640 also influenced the trade. Other topics include the role of commercial and insurance agents in the slave trade, the work of the contratadores and avençadores, and conflicts over imperial borders.