Discover · Agouda · Benin-Brazil
De Souza, da Silva, Paraíso, d'Almeida. These names tell a precise story: the return, since 1835, of freed people from Brazil to the land of their ancestors.
1835
The 1835 Malê revolt in Bahia, one of the most significant slave uprisings in Brazilian history, hardened the fate of free Africans and accelerated a wave of returns to the Bight of Benin. Freed people and descendants of Portuguese or Brazilian merchants settled in Ouidah, Agoué and Porto-Novo, in West Africa. They kept their family names, carried since, generation after generation.
de Souza
One of the best-known Agudá families in Ouidah, tied to the history of the coastal trade in the 19th century.
d'Almeida
Founded by Joaquim d'Almeida, of the Mahi people, born in Dahomey, deported and later returned to settle in Agoué.
da Silva
One of the most widespread Portuguese family names among returnee families, present in Ouidah as in Porto-Novo.
Paraíso
A family of returnees whose name, literally "paradise," took root in Ouidah's Brazilian quarter.
da Costa
Another frequent Portuguese family name among the Agudás, passed down since the earliest generations of return.
Joaquim d'Almeida, a documented life
Joaquim d'Almeida, of the Mahi people, was born on what is now Benin's territory. Deported into slavery in Brazil, he gained his freedom and chose to return and settle in Agoué, on the coast. His story, among the best documented of the returning diaspora, shows what these family names still carry today: a closed loop, not a forgotten origin.
Sources
"Esclavage, créolisation et constitution des identités en Afrique de l'Ouest : le cas des Agudàs du Bénin," Civilisations, OpenEdition, accessed September 12, 2026.
Pierre Verger, Flux et reflux de la traite des nègres entre le Golfe de Bénin et Bahia de Todos os Santos, du XVIIe au XIXe siècle, Mouton, 1966.
Genealogical documentation on returning families, specialized historical sources on the Agudás, accessed September 12, 2026.
We promise no DNA test, no genealogical proof. We open a door: to the Agudá families of Ouidah, guided by the sages and collectivities of the city.