Slavery in Brazil was implemented in the early 16th century.
In 1535, the first ship with enslaved blacks arrived in Salvador (BA). This year marks the beginning of slavery in Brazil, which would only end 353 years later on May 13, 1888, with the Lei Áurea.
The first people to be enslaved in the colony were the indigenous people. Subsequently, black Africans would be captured in Portuguese possessions such as Angola and Mozambique, and regions such as the Kingdom of Dahomey, and forcibly brought to Brazil to be enslaved.
Origin of slavery in Brazil
Historians point to several causes for the use of slave labor in the colonies.
Portugal had a small population, around two million people, and was unable to send part of its inhabitants to its American colony. To supply the missing arms, the colonists used slavery, which was already practiced in Africa and the Arab world.
The transport of enslaved people encouraged the production of more boats, food, clothing, weapons, and other products that were linked to the people trade. Therefore, the slave trade represented a great business for Europe and moved large capitals on three continents.
In this way, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English made slavery a profitable business. They overcrowded the holds of their ships with black Africans (slave ships) to be sold in Brazilian ports and throughout America.
Enslaved people, on the other hand, did not gain anything, on the contrary, they only lost, as they became the property of someone else. This contingent produced all the wealth in Brazil:from the planting of sugarcane, harvesting, processing the sugarcane juice, building houses, mills, churches, all this was done by captives.
Indigenous slavery in colonial Brazil
At the beginning of the colonization process in Brazil, indigenous labor was used.
The Indians were captured through expeditions such as flags or obtained as the spoils of intertribal wars. The Portuguese established alliances with the tribes and, in exchange, obtained indigenous slave labor.
For a long time, in Brazilian schools, it was taught that the Indian did not serve as a slave because he was "lazy" and that is why the Portuguese would have preferred to enslave the African. In fact, indigenous slavery would only be abolished in the 18th century, and therefore the argument is meaningless.
What happened was that enslaving Africans was much more profitable than enslaving indigenous people, and for this reason, Europeans preferred to invest in the slave trade.
Another impediment to the enslavement of the indigenous was the opposition of the religious, especially the Jesuits, who protected entire villages in their reductions.
See also :Indigenous Slavery in Colonial Brazil
Types of slavery in Brazil
In the case of the Portuguese, black Africans were brought from their colonies in Africa to be used mainly in agriculture and mining. They also performed various domestic and/or urban services.
In the cities there were the so-called “gain slaves”, used in tasks in the commercial or service sector. Usually, they sold manufactured goods, delicacies, carried water or helped in the administration of small businesses.
See also :Slave Trade
The Conditions of Slavery
Slavery conditions in Brazil were the worst possible and the lifespan of an adult enslaved person was no more than 10 years.
After their capture in Africa, enslaved human beings faced the dangerous crossing from Africa to Brazil in the holds of slave ships, where many died before reaching their destination.
After being sold, they began to work from dawn to dusk, receiving poor quality food, wearing rags and living in slave quarters. Normally, these were dark, damp and poorly hygienic places, adapted only to prevent leaks.
To err was not allowed and could be punishable by painful punishments. They were forbidden to profess their faith or to carry out their festivals and rituals, having to do so in secret. After all, most enslaved people came from Africa already baptized and were supposed to embrace the Catholic religion. Hence arises the syncretism that we see in Candomblé practiced in Brazil.
Black women were sexually exploited and used as labor for domestic work, as cooks, housekeepers, etc. It was not uncommon for enslaved women to resort to abortion to prevent their children from being so lucky.
When they fled, the captains of the bush chased the enslaved people. Obtaining freedom was only possible when they escaped to quilombos or when they managed to buy the manumission letter.
Slavery and forms of resistance
Revolts on farms were not uncommon in the colonial period. Many groups of slaves fled and formed fortified communities hidden in the forest called "quilombos" and one of the most significant, in colonial Brazil, was the "Quilombo dos Palmares". There, they could practice their culture and exercise their religious rituals.
However, many enslaved who could not escape, would rather commit suicide than remain captive.
See also :Zumbi do Palmares
Abolition of Slavery
When European society began to adopt the ideas of liberalism and the Enlightenment, slavery came to be severely questioned. After all, deprivation of liberty did not match the new stage of industrial capitalism.
Likewise, when England abolished slavery in its colonies, it replaced it with wage laborers. For this reason, agricultural production there would be more expensive and the English colonies could not compete with the low prices charged by the Portuguese.
Thus, it was necessary to transform enslaved labor into salaried workers. This would equalize production prices and in the future, ex-slaves could become consumers.
Therefore, England, which was leading the new capitalist-industrial expansion, passed the "Bill Aberdeen Act ". This turned the British Royal Navy into a weapon against the slave trade anywhere in the world, as it allowed its ships to board slave ships of any nationality. Importing people to be enslaved turned out to be increasingly expensive.
In Brazil, trafficking was officially abolished in 1850, with the "Eusébio de Queirós Law" . Later, in 1871, the "Law of the Free Womb" guaranteed freedom to the children of slaves; and, in 1879, the abolitionist campaign led by intellectuals and politicians began.
Subsequently, the "Sexagenarian Law" (1885) guaranteed freedom to slaves over 60 years old.
Golden Law
The abolition of slavery in the country was granted by the Lei Áurea, approved by the Senate and signed by Princess Isabel, on May 13, 1888.
The Lei Áurea ended decades of discussion around various issues. But more importantly, if slaves were freed, would the government pay compensation to the owners? Finally, the thesis that slave owners would not receive any financial compensation prevailed.
This removes the support the slaveholders gave to the monarchy. When the republican coup came, the big landowners supported the new regime.
Freed without any plan, the ex-captives were left to their own devices and started to form a huge contingent of people without qualifications.
We have more texts on the subject for you :
- Slavery
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- Racism
- Exercises Colonial Brazil
- Engenhos in colonial Brazil
Bibliographic References
Gomes, Laurentino - Slavery:from the first captive auction in Portugal to the death of Zumbi de Palmares . Globo Books, 2019. Rio de Janeiro.
Documentary:Abolition. Senate in History. Consulted on 06.10.2020