BRAZIL AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

BRAZIL AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE :

Presentation by Matt McIntosh BRAZIL AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

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Brazil is favorably located geographically to benefit from the slave trade: It is closer than any other part of the New World Trades winds and shipping routes run naturally from Africa to Brazil About 41% of all African slaves ended up in Brazil. The most of any country.

Brazil was consistently dependent on African Slaves: :

Brazil was consistently dependent on African Slaves: Increased popularity of sugar and other New World products and Brazil’s continued dependence on a single-crop economy Native populations were incapable to perform the work because of high mortality rates Imported African slave were relatively cheap and the investment to plantation owners was returned within a few years Prevailing ideas about race and the inferiority of Africans to Whites.

1. The World’s Lust for Sugar:

1. The World’s Lust for Sugar “Since sugar gradually became one of the first luxuries consumed by the masses in Western societies (along with slave-produced coffee, tobacco, and eventually chocolate), it also became the principle incentive for transporting millions of Africans to the New World.” David Brion Davis. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. Oxford University Press. 2006. p 107.

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The 19 th century reinvigorated the slave trade as a coffee boom exploded in the inland regions of south-central Brazil Thousands of slaves were involuntarily moved to coffee growing regions of the country. Image from: http://www.coffeesnoop.com/images/brazil-coffee-map.jpg

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2. Native Populations and Mortality:

2. Native Populations and Mortality Native populations were originally utilized as slaves on plantations. However, their high mortality made them an uneconomical solution to labor in the New World. Image by: http://www.columbia.edu/~amm2009/3956/SugarPlantation1667.jpeg

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Image from: http://aldworthapworld.wikispaces.com/file/view/smallpox600.jpg/133432043/smallpox600.jpg “Amerindians, throughout the hemisphere had little capacity for resisting imported diseases, both temperate and tropical pathogens, including smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, influenza, typhus, and the plague. Given the previous isolation of the Western Hemisphere, this disaster has been called a “virgin soil pandemic.” Even whites suffered heavy mortality— of the twenty-five hundred colonists who arrived in Hispaniola in 1502, one thousand died in a fairly short period of time— but the Spaniards were bewildered and some even horrified as the Indian populations seemed to evaporate before their eyes.” David Brion Davis. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. Oxford University Press. eBook. p 97 .

3. Imported Slaves and Return on Investment:

3. Imported Slaves and Return on Investment Imported slaves offered a much higher return on investment than natural born slaves due to costs involved in supporting children from infancy In addition: Slave women typically had low fertility rates Slave children high mortality rates The slave labor demands required for Brazil could not be filled through natural increase. Importation was required.

4. Prevailing ideas about the inferiority of Africans:

4. Prevailing ideas about the inferiority of Africans African were typically viewed as inferior to whites and the slave trade was therefore morally justified. Image by: Lilly Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana University

Effects of Slave Importation on Social Structure:

Effects of Slave Importation on Social Structure Sheer volume of slaves imported was the greatest social issue Eventually, slaves were found everywhere, even in some households characterized as poor Additionally, interbreeding necessitated new social definitions concerning blood and each individuals role in society

Conclusion:

Conclusion Throughout its colonial history, Brazil was economically dependent on imported African slave labor Brazil’s dependence on the African slave trade and its reliance on a single-crop economy hurt its economy overall The slave trade and plantation life only benefited the Old World and a few elites within the country Dependence on slave labor stunted the creation of a wage-earning class and widened the divide between rich and poor