Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T17:34:26.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Forced Hand: Natives, Africans, and the Population of Brazil, 1545-1850*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2013

Justin R. Bucciferro
Justin R. Bucciferro*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Eastern Washington University, 013 Hargreaves Hall, Cheney, WA 99004, USA. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The settlement and expansion of the Portuguese colonies in South America were made possible by slave labour; however, the historical size of enslaved Native and African groups is largely unknown. This investigation compiles extant statistics on the population of «Brazil» by race and state for the pre-census period from 1545 to 1850, complementing them with headcount estimates based on sugar, gold, and coffee production; pre-contact indigenous populations; and trans-Atlantic slave voyages. The resulting panel of demographic data illustrates national and regional racial transitions encompassing the colonial era. Brazil's population was of Native descent but became predominantly African in the 18th century; people of European ancestry remained a minority for another 200 years.

Resumen

El establecimiento y la expansión de las colonias portuguesas en Sudamérica fueron posibles gracias al trabajo de los esclavos; sin embargo, el tamaño histórico de los grupos nativos y africanos esclavizados es desconocido. Esta investigación compila las estadísticas existentes sobre la población de «Brasil» según raza y estado para el periodo pre-censo 1545-1850, complementándolas con estimaciones basadas en la producción de azúcar, oro, y café; poblaciones indígenas precolombinas; y viajes transatlánticos. El panel resultante de datos demográficos ilustra transiciones raciales nacionales y regionales, a lo largo de la era colonial. La población de Brasil era nativa pero se volvió predominantemente africana durante el siglo XVIII; gente de origen europeo siguió siendo una minoría por otros 200 años.

Keywords

BrazilcolonisationdemographyraceslaveryN01N36N56N96O54Brasilcolonizacióndemografíarazaesclavitud
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , September 2013 , pp. 285 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The author is grateful to Ann Carlos and David Bunting for their comments on earlier versions of this article; two anonymous referees for their suggestions, as well as Antonio Tena and William Summerhill (editors); and, Luis Dopico and participants in the «Economics of Ethnicity and Race» session at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Economic and Business Historical Society (Las Vegas, April 2012).

References

REFERENCES

Alden, D. (1963): «The Population of Brazil in the Late 18th Century: A Preliminary Study». Hispanic American Historical Review, 43 (2), pp. 173-205.Google Scholar
Alden, D. (1984): «Late Colonial Brazil, 1750-1808», in L. Bethell (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, vol. 2, pp. 601-660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, A.La Ferrara, E. (2005): «Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance». Journal of Economic Literature, 43 (3), pp. 762-800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anchieta, J. (1933 [1585]): Cartas, Informações, Fragmentos Historicos e Sermões. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira.Google Scholar
Antonil, alias Andreoni J. A. (1923 [1711]): Cultura e Opuléncia do Brasil, 4th edition. São Paulo: E. Taunay.Google Scholar
Bergad, L. W. (2007): The Comparative Histories of Slavery in Brazil, Cuba, and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berredo, B.Pereira de, (1989 [1718]): Anais históricos do estado do Maranhaõ. Iquitos, Perú: CETA.Google Scholar
Bethell, L. (1970): The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question, 1807-1869. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bethell, L.Carvalho, J. M. (1989): «1822-1850», in L. Bethell (ed.), Brazil: Empire and Republic, 1822-1930. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 45-112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blume, H. (1985): Geography of Sugar Cane: Environmental, Structural, and Economical Aspects of Sugarcane Production. Berlin: Verlag Dr. Albert Bartens.Google Scholar
Boxer, C. R. (1962): The Golden Age of Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Brito, D. A. (1592): Sumario e descripção do reino de Angola, e do descobrimento da ilha de Loanda e da grãdeza das capitanias de estado do Brasil. Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional.Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, F. L. C. (1862): Monographia da canna d'assucar. Rio de Janeiro: N. L. Vianna e filhos.Google Scholar
Cadena Vilhasanti, P. (1963 [1629]: «Descripción de la provincia del Brasil», in F. Mauro (ed.), Le Brésil au XVIIe siècle: Documents inédits relatifs à l'Atlantique portugais. Coimbra.Google Scholar
Cardim, F. (1847 [1583]): Narrativa Epístolar de uma Viagem e Missão Jesuítica. Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional.Google Scholar
Cardoso, Gerald. (1983): Negro Slavery in the Sugar Plantations of Veracruz and Pernambuco, 1550–1680: A Comparative Study. Washington, DC: University Press of America.Google Scholar
CIA (2012) «World Factbook, Brazil». Available at www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html (accessed 1 April 2012).Google Scholar
Conrad, R. E. (1986): World of Sorrow: The African Slave Trade to Brazil. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Cunha, M. C. (1992): «Introdução a uma História Indígena», in M. C. Cunha (ed.), Hístoria dos Índios no Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, pp. 9-24.Google Scholar
Curtin, P. D. (1969): The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Eltis, D. (2001): «The Volume and Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Reassessment». William and Mary Quarterly, 58 (1), pp. 17-46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eltis, D., Behrendt, S., Richardson, D.Klein, H. (1999): The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, CD-ROM.Google Scholar
Filho, O. B. (1952): A Fazenda do Café em São Paulo. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Agricultura.Google Scholar
Freyre, F. B. (1977 [1675]): Historia da Guerra Brasilica. Recife: Governo de Pernambuco.Google Scholar
Gândavo, P. M. (1965 [1576]): Tratado da Província do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro.Google Scholar
Goulart, M. (1975): Escravidão Africana no Brasil: Das Origens À Extinção do Tráfico, 2nd edition. São Paulo: Editora Alfa-Omega.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, H. (1987): «Demografia escrava numa economia não-exportadora: Paraná, 1800-1830». Estudos Econômicos, 17 (2), pp. 297-317.Google Scholar
Hemming, J. (1978): Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500-1760. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hemming, J. (1987): «Indians and the Frontier», in L. Bethell (ed.), Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 145-189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estadística (IBGE). Séries Estatísticas & Séries Históricas. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estadística. Available at www.ibge.gov.br/series_estatisticas (accessed 1 June 2010).Google Scholar
Johnson, H. B. (1987): «Portuguese Settlement, 1500-1580», in L. Bethell (ed.), Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-38.Google Scholar
Klein, H. S. (2010): The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, H. S.Luna, F. V. (2004): «Slave Economy and Society in Minas Gerais and São Paulo, Brazil in 1830». Journal of Latin American Studies, 36 (1), pp. 1-28.Google Scholar
Klein, H. S.Luna, F. V. (2010): Slavery in Brazil. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Leite, S. (1938): Suma histórica da Companhia de Jesus no Brasil (assistência de Portugal) 1549-1760. Lisbon: Junta de Investigaçoẽs do Ultramar.Google Scholar
Libby, D. C.Paiva, C. A. (2000): «Alforrias e forros em uma freguesia mineira: São José d'El Rey em 1795». Revista Brasileira de Estudos de População, 17 (1/2), pp. 17-46.Google Scholar
Livi-Bacci, M. (1992): A Concise History of World Population. Cambridge: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Livi-Bacci, M. (2001): «500 Anni di Demografia Brasiliana: Una Rassegna». Popolazione e Storia, (1), pp. 13-34.Google Scholar
Luna, F. V. (1980). «Minas Gerais: Escravos e Senhores – Análise da Estrutura Populacional e Econômica de Alguns Centros Mineratórios (1718-1804)». São Paulo: Departamento de Economia, Universidade de São Paulo, PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
Marchant, A. (1942): From Barter to Slavery: The Economic Relations of Portuguese and Indians in the Settlement of Brazil 1500-1580. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Marcílio, M. L. (1984): «The Population of Colonial Brazil», in L. Bethell (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, vol. 2, pp. 37-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martins Filho, A.Martins, R. B. (1983): «Slavery in a Nonexport Economy: Nineteenth-Century Minas Gerais Revisited». Hispanic American Historical Review, 63 (3), pp. 537-568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauro, F. (2000): «La Expansión Europea desde los Orígenes hasta Finales del Siglo XV», in UNESCO (ed.), Historia General de América Latina. París: UNESCO, vol. 2, pp. 49-70.Google Scholar
McEvedy, C.Jones, R. (1978): Atlas of World Population History. Middlesex: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Mello, P. C. (1977). «The Economics of Labor in Brazilian Coffee Plantations, 1850-1888». Chicago: Department of Economics, University of Chicago, PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
Merrick, T. W.Graham, D. H. (1979): Population and Economic Development in Brazil: 1800 to the Present. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Metcalf, A. C. (1992): Family and the Frontier in Colonial Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Monteiro, J. M. (1994): Negros da Terra: Índios e Bandeirantes nas Origens de São Paulo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.Google Scholar
Moreno, D. C. (1955 [1612]): Livro que Dá Rezão do Estado do Brasil. Recife: Arquivo Publico Estadual.Google Scholar
Motta, J. F. (2006): «Escravos daqui, dali e de mais além: o tráfico interno de cativos em Constituição (Piracicaba), 1861-1880». Revista Brasileira de História, 26 (52), pp. 15-47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newson, L. A. (2006): «The Demographic Impact of Colonization», in V. Bulmer-Thomas, J. H. Coatsworth, and R. Cortés Conde (eds.), Cambridge Economic History of Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, vol. 1, pp. 143-184.Google Scholar
Perrone-Moisés, B. (1992): «Índios Livres e Índios Escravos: Os Princípios da Legislação Indigenista do Período Colonial (Séculos XVI a XVIII)», in M. C. Cunha (ed.), Hístoria dos Índios no Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, pp. 115-132.Google Scholar
Petrone, P. (1995): Aldeamentos Paulistas. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A. C. (1992): «Arqueologia Amazônica», in M. C. Cunha (ed.), Hístoria dos Índios no Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, pp. 53-86.Google Scholar
Rosenblat, A. (1954): La Población Indígena y el Mestizaje en América. Buenos Aires: Editorial Nova.Google Scholar
Russell-Wood, A. J. R. (1987): «The Gold Cycle, c. 1690-1750», in L. Bethell (ed.), Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 190-243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sánchez-Albornoz, N. (1974): The Population of Latin America: A History. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. B. (1974): «The Manumission of Slaves in Colonial Brazil: Bahia, 1684-1745». Hispanic American Historical Review, 54 (4), pp. 603-635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, S. B. (1985): Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. B. (1987): «Plantations and Peripheries, c. 1580 – c. 1750», in L. Bethell (ed.), Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 67-144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonsen, R. C. (1937): História Econômica do Brasil 1500-1820. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional.Google Scholar
Slenes, R. (1975): «The Demography and Economics of Brazilian Slavery: 1850-1888». Palo Alto: Department of History, Stanford University, PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
Soares, S. F. (1860): Notas Estatísticas sobre a Produção Agrícola e Carestia dos Géneros Alimentícios no Império do Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: J. Villeneuve e Companhia.Google Scholar
Soares de Sousa, G. (1851 [1587]): Tratado Descritivo do Brasil em 1587. Rio de Janeiro: Typographia Universal de Laemmert.Google Scholar
Souza, M. A. G. (2000): O Descobrimento e a Colonização Portuguesa no Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia.Google Scholar
Stein, S. J. (1985): Vassouras. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. (1946): Handbook of South American Indians. Washington: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2010): This is an online searchable database, which can be cited as follows: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. Emory University. http://slavevoyages.org (accessed 1 August 2010).Google Scholar
Varnhagen, F. A. (1956): História Geral do Brasil, 5th edition. São Paulo: Edições Melhoramentos.Google Scholar
Viera, A. (1943 [1660]): «Regulamento das Aldeias (Visita)», in S. Leite (ed.), História da Companhia de Jesus no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Nacional do Livro.Google Scholar