Manuel Rodrigues Lamego

Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego (born circa 1590) was a Portuguese-born merchant and slave trader active in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Rodrigues de Lamego was a Marrano. He was contracted by the Spanish Empire with an official asiento to provide their colonies in the Spanish Americas with African slaves from 1 April 1623 to 25 September 1631. During this time, he was the Contratodore (monopolist trader) for the Atlantic slave trade in Angola's Portuguese West African territory. Contrary to his predecessor as asiento holder, António Fernandes de Elvas, he was not the Contratodore for Cape Verde and Guinea. After his tenure, he was succeeded as asiento holder by Melchor Gómez Angel and Cristóvão Mendes de Sousa, while he was succeeded as Contratodore for Angola by Henrique Gomes da Costa.

Biography Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego was born at Lamego, the Kingdom of Portugal to a Sephardic Jewish converso family. His father was Luis António Rodrigues de Lamego, and he had several siblings of note. João Rodrigues de Lamego, one brother, was married to a sister of Juan Nunez Saravia (1585—1639), a fellow Marrano and the official banker to Philip IV of Spain in Madrid. In addition to this, another brother, António Rodrigues de Lamego (died 1653), worked as an agent for Nunez Saravia in Rouen.

It is this position that was awarded to Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego from 1623 until 1631. Rodrigues de Lamego had gained a foothold in the Atlantic slave trade as contratodore for the trade in the Portuguese West African territory of Angola.

Family life It is not known if Rodrigues de Lamego had any offspring, however, his siblings had many and some of them married into prominent families. This includes the Lousadas, a prominent Sephardic Jewish family who were involved in sugar plantations in the Caribbean as slave-owners in Jamaica and Barbados (both in the British West Indies) and then later relocated to London in the 18th century: a prominent example is Emanuel Lousada. Other relatives were involved with prominent figures; Duarte Rodrigues de Lamego of Rouen was substantial creditor to Michael de Spinoza, the father of the excommunicated philosopher Baruch Spinoza. In addition to this, the family provided many spies to the Portuguese government.