Women like Dona Ana Joaquina were successful in applying the capital they inherited and the profit of their own entrepreneurial activities in the local and Atlantic markets. Luso-African women in the colony of Angola acquired sailing vessels and exported captives alone or as commercial associates of foreign merchants and husbands. Furthermore, they also owned enslaved individuals who assisted them in their commercial activities and contributed to increasing their prestige in the colonial society. The experiences of female merchants operating in local and long-distance trade contradicts the image of submission and reclusion too often attributed to African women in the past. Female entrepreneurs like Dona Ana Joaquina used every opportunity open to them in a port city connected to the Atlantic economy.  
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[^0]:    19 BOA, no. 805, 9 March, 1861, p. 5. For further information on her inheritance, see Lopes Cardoso, 1972, pp. 11-13.
20 On the Garrido family in Luanda, see Clarence-Smith, 1985, p. 49.
21 BML, Códice 42-43, "Termos de Correção," 29 December, 1832, p. 19.
22 BOA, no. 230, 23 February, 1850, p. 3-4.