Angola, Cabo Verde and Mozambique submitted 79 slave registration books, created mainly between 1856 and 1875, to the UNESCO register “Memory of the World”. Issued by decree of the Portuguese Crown, these records documented all enslaved and freed individuals in its overseas territories, laying the groundwork for the abolition of slavery in 1869.
Read more: Census of slaves in Angola, Cape Verde and MozambiqueAt a time when slavery had opponents around the world, and the United Kingdom was striving to ban it, these books provided detailed records, including names, sex, birthplace, age, physical traits, occupations, and information on slave owners, according to UNESCO. This provides a privileged view of the situation of slavery, given the fact that a large part of the enslaved Africans were forcibly expatriated from ports there.
It became part of 74 new items of documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World International Register in 2025.
=> Source: UNESCO