© T. M. Whitmore
TODAY
•Portuguese settlement of Brazil
•The sugar plantation economies of Brazil & the Caribbean
•The Atlantic slave trade
•Post-sugar boom colonial Brazilian economies
© T. M. Whitmore
Last Time-Questions?
•Early Spanish colonial institutions
•Spanish Colonial Settlement patterns
© T. M. Whitmore
Portuguese Brazilian Settlement
• Initial Settlement PatternsState-sized settlements to private
entrepreneurs to extract dye wood “palo brazil”This initial “capitalistic-like” set up
failed by 1540 and all lands re-transferred to the crown
© T. M. Whitmore
Plantation Sugar in Brazil•Turkish closure of Middle Eastern
sugar & decrease in honey production in Europe => huge profits to be had
•Plantation sugar system in Brazil ~ 1540s – 1700s (dominates world’s sugar for ~ 200 yrs)Advanced agro-technologyExcellent agro-ecologyGood access to European marketsInitially Amerindian labor – later
African slaves
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Brazilian Fazendas•150-200 laborers•30 km2 (2-3 miles on a side)•Cane fields•pasture for oxen•plots for slave subsistence•woodlands for fuel•mill complex
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Impacts of Brazilian fazenda settlement
•Coastal few links inland
•Cities of less import initially
•Collapse of local Indigenous pops
•Huge import of African slaves => helped set racial composition of NE Brazil until today
•Ecological impact: deforestation, soil exhaustion
© T. M. Whitmore
Caribbean adoption of Brazilian plantation system
•Northern European Colonies recreated Brazilian system after 1640
•Similar agro-ecological advantages•Better slave security•Easier transport to Europe•Became the most valuable colonies
for each state!• Impacts
Soil depletionVast increase in Afro-origin
population
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Characteristics of plantation ag•Old world plants and techniques
•Requires huge land holdings – discourages small holders
•Cheap labor needed•Absentee owners or few local owners•Uses best land•Settlement is at plantation not cities•Cultural/spatial/class dualism •Economy is wholly export and
dependent on world market•“mining” of resources (soils and
timber) => impoverished local areas
© T. M. Whitmore
African slavery in Brazil and Caribbean•Characteristics
•Chronology•Geography
BrazilSpanish AmericaCaribbean
•Totals•African origins•Decline of slavery after 1800•Consequences of plantation/slave
agriculture
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Sugar & Slaves in the Caribbean
~ 1.8 m slaves to Spanish colonies~ 1.7 m slaves to French colonies~ 2.9 m slaves to English colonies
© T. M. Whitmore
SLAVERY IN THE AMERICASBRAZIL ~ 4.3 million
SPANISH AMERICA50% to Cuba (900 k)20% to Mexico (360 k)10% to Venezuela (180 k)20% Columbia, Panama, Ecuador
~ 1.8 million
FRENCH AMERICAMostly to Martinique & Haiti
~ 1.7 million
ENGLISH AMERICA40% to Jamaica (1.2 m)22% to North America (640 k)20% to Barbados (580 k)13% other Caribbean (377 k)
~ 2.9 million
Totals are approximate and probably are underestimates. (nearly 5 m to small Caribbean islands)
~ 10.7 million
© T. M. Whitmore
SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS 1492- 1880
•1492 - 1600 ~ 1% of all slaves transported~ 40% of slaves in this period to
Brazil; 60% to the Spanish coloniesearly period slave transport ~ 125k
•1600 - 1700 ~ 14% of all slaves transportedtotals transported about 1.3m~ 40% to Brazil, 20% to Spanish
colonies, 38% to N European Caribbean
© T. M. Whitmore
SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS 1492- 1880 II
•1700 – 1810 (peak of slave trade)~ 64% of all slaves transportedtotals ~ 6 millionNorth America ~ 6%, British Caribbean
~ 23%, Spanish America ~ 9%, French Caribbean ~ 22%, Brazil ~ 31%, Dutch and Danish Caribbean the rest
•1810 – 1870~ 20% of all slaves transportedtotals ~ 1.9mBrazil 60%, French Caribbean ~ 5%,
Spanish America ~ 32%
© T. M. Whitmore
Consequences of the sugar/slave system
•Altered racial makeup
• Influenced settlement patterns in Brazil and Caribbean
• Influenced labor and social relationships
• Influenced land tenure systems: latifundia vs “mini-fundia”
•Degraded environment and lost resources
© T. M. Whitmore
Non-sugar Economy of Colonial Brazil
•Tobacco & Cattle
•Non-sugar south—Sâo Paulo and slave raiding
•Gold Rush at Minas Gerais in late 1600s/early 1700s
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Sugar & Slaves1500s – 1700s
Minas Gerais
Later SettlementCattle & Tobacco
Paulista or BandeiranteIndian Slave raids
Rio de Janeiro Sâo Paulo
Colonial Brazilian Economies
© T. M. Whitmore
Overview of Brazil 1500 — 1800
•Little lasting development: 2 boom/bust cycles; sugar and gold
•Much environmental destruction
•Set pattern of social values: beef; latifundia
•Mixed races with large African component (Black in N; Brown in Center; White in S)
•Pop mostly still coastal – 40% in NE; 30% in Minas
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