Poor man’s crop? Slavery in cotton regions in Brazil (1800-1850)
Much of the literature about cotton production in Brazil during the nineteenth century considers cotton as a “poor man’s crop” – cultivated by small farmers who did not employ a large slave labor force. However, information provided in population maps from the period between 1800 and 1840 shows tha...
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Formato: | article |
Lenguaje: | EN PT |
Publicado: |
Universidade de São Paulo
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/0240740442fa467f8854f5d6a91ccfab |
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Sumario: | Much of the literature about cotton production in Brazil during the nineteenth century considers
cotton as a “poor man’s crop” – cultivated by small farmers who did not employ a large slave
labor force. However, information provided in population maps from the period between 1800
and 1840 shows that slaves represented half the population in Maranhão, the most important
cotton exporter in Brazil until the 1840s. This represented a higher share than in any region
in northeast Brazil and was comparable to the slave population shares recorded in the United
States’ cotton South. This paper shows that, during the cotton boom years (1790-1820), not
only was the cotton exported from northeast Brazil to Britain and continental Europe cultivated
on large plantations, but also, slave prices were higher in Maranhão than in other Brazilian
provinces.
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