Antigo Mercado de Escravos (Old Slave Market), Lagos (must see)

Portugal's maritime ascendency had a dark side; slaves. Prince Infante D. Henrique, who was not actually a seafarer, earned the name "Henry the Navigator" by dispatching expeditions of discovery over the sea to Africa and beyond. The first cargo of slaves was delivered in 1441 by a Captain Antonio Goncalves.

Antonio discovered that Africa had a booming slave trade and he purchased 14 people. The demand for slaves grew. Owning slaves apparently gave one a certain social panache. Henry was entitled to one fifth of the value of slaves brought back. Captain Lancarote de Freitas brought 235 slaves in 1444. Henry took 47. Slavery became big business.

The present slave market was constructed in 1691 on the site of an old 14th century slave market. In 1512 King Manuel I had decreed that imported slaves could only be landed in Lisbon. The building is constructed in the Mannerist style and it has two floors. The ground floor is enclosed by stone arches and an iron fence.

In 2014 the city council installed a museum in the market. The building became a part of the UNESCO Slave Route program. In December 2018 it was called the "International Centre for Living Memory of Human Dignity" by Portugal's International Observatory of Human Rights.