José de Cerqueira Lima

José de Cerqueira Lima (17941839) was a Brazilian merchant, slave trader and politician based in Salvador da Bahia. He was one of the wealthiest and most prominent slave traders operating in Brazil during the 1820s and 1830s, owning a fleet of at least a dozen slaving vessels. He is best known as the owner of the Henriqueta, a notorious slave ship that was captured by the Royal Navy in 1827 and subsequently converted into , one of the most successful anti-slavery patrol vessels in history.

Career in the slave trade

Cerqueira Lima was born in 1794 in the parish of Conceição, Salvador. His father, José de Cerqueira Lima, was a Portuguese-born slave trader who had settled in the city, which was the capital of the sugar-producing province of Bahia in northeastern Brazil and one of the largest slave-importing regions in the Americas. His mother was Maria Vitória Carolina de Vasconcelos e Sousa. Beyond the Henriqueta, Cerqueira Lima owned other slaving vessels, including the brig Bahia, which was captured in 1827 near Agoué (in present-day Benin) with enslaved people on board.

Under the command of captain João Cardozo dos Santos, the Henriqueta made at least six voyages from the Bight of Benin to Salvador between 1825 and 1827. In total, the ship delivered over 3,000 enslaved Africans to Bahia during this period, generating profits of approximately £80,000 for Cerqueira Lima. Although the slave trade had been rendered illegal through treaties imposed under British pressure, first under Portuguese rule and then by independent Brazil, Cerqueira Lima and other powerful traders continued their operations openly. He was wealthy and influential enough to insure his ships specifically against capture by the Royal Navy, with policies issued by insurers in Rio de Janeiro.

He died in 1839.

Political career

Despite his involvement in the illegal slave trade, Cerqueira Lima held public office in Bahia. He served as a city councillor (vereador) in Salvador around 1827.

Personal life

Cerqueira Lima was described as one of the richest and most influential men of his era in the province of Bahia.

His son, José Cerqueira de Aguiar Lima (6 March 1828, Salvador – 20 December 1898, Rio de Janeiro), was born in the parish of Vitória in Salvador.