Plaza de Antonio López, in Barcelona. / JOAN PUIG

It is popular that the  buying and selling of slaves  generated great fortunes among the great families of the  Catalan bourgeoisie , from the end of the 18th century and well into the 19th century. However, despite the important role of the  Catalan slavers  in the lucrative business of slave trafficking, this is  an uncomfortable topic to address,  so the dissemination of what happened hardly leaves the academy.

The reasons are diverse, starting because it is difficult to elucidate to what extent the financing of the expiatory temples, the modernist exaltation of the Eixample or the Indian houses of the Maresme, to give a few examples, comes in part from money amassed behind shackles. On the one hand, because for a long time, the slave trade was illegal (in Spain it was abolished, in practice, on October 7, 1886) and therefore there are few documents that certify its practice, and on the other hand, because very Few families who benefited from such a lucrative business have dedicated themselves to airing their now shameful existence. In the mid-19th century, no one dared to defend slavery in public, however, it was tolerated under the pretext, often, of economic growth.

THE FAMILIES

Antonio López, the Marquis of Comillas, is often cited  .  But he was not the only one, other important families in Barcelona took advantage of that prosperous business: the Samà and Vidal-Quadras families, Joan Xifré and Joan Güell. Some of them still have statues and streets named after him in Barcelona and other cities, as a tribute. A recognition that, in the 21st century, has generated various debates and controversies about the need to erase such contradictory traces from memory. An example is the debate reopened in July 2015 around the need to delete the Antonio López square, in Ciutat Vella, from the gazetteer, an initiative of the CUP, and which was settled in favor of the name change. Until 2010, no city government had proposed the abolition of these symbols. It was not until 2010, when the UGT and CCOO unions asked for the removal of the shipowner’s statue, although then they only managed to have Marquès de Comillas Avenue renamed with the name of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia.

It is worth noting the efforts of some authors to rescue Catalonia’s black past.  Gustau Nerín , specialist in the study of Spanish colonialism, published ‘ Traficant d’animes ‘ , about the Spanish slavers on the African coast. In ‘ Perles negres: Tres segles de collaboracionistes ‘, Joan-Marc Passada and Salvador Avià offer a brushstroke on some of the traders at that time. And in  ‘Els Güell’ Els Güell’ , Andreu Farràs also details some dark details of the history of one of the most influential families of the Catalan and Barcelona bourgeoisie.

THE ROUTE OF SLAVERY

They are just small attempts aimed at making public a topic that in many ways remains taboo.