the portuguese established brazilian sugar plantations in madeira.
the portuguese established brazilian sugar plantations in madeira.
where did the portuguese establish brazilian sugar plantations?
madeira
in contrast to the neighboring spanish possessions, which had several viceroyalties with jurisdiction initially over new spain (mexico) and peru, and in the eighteenth century expanded to viceroyalties of rio de la plata and new granada, the portuguese colony of brazil was settled mainly in the coastal area by the portuguese and a large black slave population working sugar plantations and mines. the boom and bust economic cycles were linked to export products. brazil's sugar age, with the development of plantation slavery, merchants serving as middle men between production sites, brazilian ports, and europe was undermined by the growth of the sugar industry in the caribbean on islands that european powers seized from spain. gold and diamonds were discovered and mined in southern brazil through the end of the colonial era. brazilian cities were largely port cities and the colonial administrative capital was moved several times in response to the rise and fall of export products' importance.
colonial brazil
the trade of enslaved africans in the atlantic has its origins in the explorations of portuguese mariners down the coast of west africa in the 15th century. before that, contact with african slave markets was made to ransom portuguese who had been captured by the intense north african barbary pirate attacks on portuguese ships and coastal villages, frequently leaving them depopulated. the first europeans to use enslaved africans in the new world were the spaniards, who sought auxiliaries for their conquest expeditions and labourers on islands such as cuba and hispaniola. the alarming decline in the native population had spurred the first royal laws protecting them (laws of burgos, 1512–13). the first enslaved africans arrived in hispaniola in 1501. after portugal had succeeded in establishing sugar plantations ("engenhos") in northern brazil c. 1545, portuguese merchants on the west african coast began to supply enslaved africans to the sugar planters. while at first these planters had relied almost exclusively on the native tupani for slave labour, after 1570 they began importing africans, as a series of epidemics had decimated the already destabilized tupani communities. by 1630, africans had replaced the tupani as the largest contingent of labour on brazilian sugar plantations. this ended the european medieval household tradition of slavery, resulted in brazil's receiving the most enslaved africans, and revealed sugar cultivation and processing as the reason that roughly 84% of these africans were shipped to the new world.
atlantic slave trade