18 Navarre might have been chosen because of his work as a ship consignee with deep contacts inside the French mercantile network. See below.
19 Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, 1974, Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery, Boston, Little, Brown and Jan Hogendorn, 1999, "Slaves as Money in the Sokoto Caliphate," in Endre Stiansen and Jane Guyer, eds., Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective, Stockholm, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, pp. 56-71.
20 Interview with Olabiyi Yai, Cotonou, 29 December 2001 and Santana, "Extraordinária," p. 32.
21 Jean-Baptiste Debret, 1834-1839, Voyage Pittoresque et Historique au Brésil, 3 vols., Paris, Firmin Didot Frères, Imprimeurs de l'Institut de France.  
The merchants, by contrast, mostly retailed goods imported from France, such as textiles and other fashion products including shoes, hats and perfume, while they exported cotton, fur, leather, rum, sugar, coffee, and wood. Others were deeply involved in the slave trade. The merchants took advantage of good relations between Brazil and France after both countries signed a treaty in which Brazil opened its market to French traders, while France recognized Brazil's independence. Trade records compiled by Jurgen Schneider reveal that between 1827 and 1834, over $43 \%$ of ships engaged in France-Latin America trade came from Brazil, and 39\% of ships sailed in the other direction. Le Havre port saw more ships than Bordeaux and Marseilles combined. Schneider and Edouard Delobette credit Le Havre's growth to the rise of a global trade system, a viable commercial class, and strong institutions, spanning the Atlantic. ${ }^{22}$ This commercial orientation set the foundation for Osifekunde's journey to France.