Slavery and Its Economic Structures in Colonial Brazil
Slavery and Its Economic Structures in Colonial Brazil
- Leonardo MarquesLeonardo MarquesDepartment of History, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Summary
Between the arrival of Columbus and the last slave voyage to Cuba in the 1860s, over 12 million enslaved Africans were carried and sold in the Americas. Brazil received almost half of all these captives, most of them during the colonial period. An efficient slave-trading system allowed slavery to become a major force in the development of Portuguese America. The institution became pervasive throughout the colony in the three centuries comprising the colonial era, with important differences across time and space. Some of the major exports produced by African slaves in Brazil, such as sugar, tobacco, and gold, had various global impacts. They also stimulated important domestic developments, such as the creation of internal markets and the growth of cities like Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, with African slaves playing essential roles everywhere. Moreover, the history of African slavery became intertwined with the history of native Brazilians in peculiar ways.
Subjects
- History of Brazil
- History of Latin America and the Oceanic World
- 1492–1824
- Afro-Latin History
- Slavery and Abolition
