# CHAPTER 8  
## DONA ANA JOAQUINA DOS SANTOS SILVA  
A Woman Merchant of Nineteenth Century Luanda<br>Vanessa S. Oliveira  
Historians long ago established the importance of western Central Africa, particularly colonial Angola, in the transatlantic slave trade. However, it is only more recently that they have begun to appreciate the importance of women in this enterprise (Curtin, 1969). Prior to 1970, scholars based their work on primary sources penned by foreigners, especially European men, which created an ethnocentric and male view of African societies (Coquery-Vidrovitch, 1997, p. 3). Scholarly interest in African women then was limited to the study of queens, prostitutes and peasants (Hay, 1988). Meanwhile, the frameworks that influenced the study of African history tended to neglect women and gender as categories of analysis, prioritizing Africa's great States and leaders, as well as class and underdevelopment, as the central problematics (Zeleza, 1997, pp. 81-115).  
In recent decades, the number of studies focusing on the participation of women in local and long-distance trade along the western coast of Africa has increased remarkably, challenging the image of African women as mere victims of indigenous and European patriarchal systems, by highlighting their agency in the socioeconomic fabric of African societies. ${ }^{1}$ This contribution analyses the  
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[^0]:    1 See, for example, Brooks, 1976, pp. 19-44, 1997, pp. 295-319, 2003; Havik, 2002, pp. 79-120, 2004; White, 1987, 2011. For western Central Africa, see Candido, 2012a, pp. 33-54, 2012b, 2014; Curto, 2002a, 2002b, pp. 185-208, 2003; De Castro Lopo, 1948, pp. 129-138; Lopes Cardoso, 1972, pp. 5-14; Pantoja, 1997, 2001a, pp. 45-67, 2001b, pp. 35-49, 2008; Wheeler, 1996; see also the case of Dona Joana Gomes Moutinho in Candido, 2013a.  
trajectory of one of the wealthiest Luanda merchants, Dona Ana Joaquina dos Santos Silva. She was not the only female merchant of her time, but she did become the most well-known due to the extent of her investments.