Sal português para as Américas : exportações para os Estados Unidos nos finais do século XVIII e inícios do século XIX

Abstract

Cape Verdes, began at an early date and were mainly of a commercial nature. Salt was an important commodity exported to North America. Besides being used for cooking, this product was indispensable to the preservation of meat and fish, as well as for the preparation of hides and other skins. When it was difficult to find salt locally the American colonists were obliged to import it from the West Indies and Europe. The quality of the Portuguese salt was recognized as excellent since the Middle Ages and was considered the best for the salting of the meat that was shipped to the Antilles.The main suppliers of salt to the United States were Portugal, Great Britain, dominions of these two powers, as well as Spain and her empire. Setúbal and Lisbon were the leading Portuguese ports from which salt was shipped to the United States. If we analyse the American State Papers, the United States imported from Portugal and the Atlantic islands two qualities of salt, refined and unrefined. These and other data gathered both in Portuguese and American sources show the importance of Portugal and its Atlantic islands as a supplier of salt to North America.