Sugar, Slavery, and Absolutism in Colonial Brazil

The Slave Trade and the Beginnings of Colonial Brazil

Portuguese explorers discovered Brazil while seeking trees whose roots produced ink to dye fabrics. These woods were called *pau-brasil* (Brazilwood) and exported to Europe. From 1580 to 1680, Brazil was the world's leading sugar producer. The sugar industry was powered by the allure of profits and the ambitions of landowners who saw a European market demanding American products. Sugar production was intrinsically linked to the purchase and sale of slaves, the slave trade.

The Dutch West India Company initiated a process that attracted significant capital for the exploitation of sugarcane. Almost all of the sugar industry was located on the shore. Due to the lack of usable roads and methods to counter natural obstacles, the mills were installed on the banks of rivers.

Land occupation occurred through royal grants awarded to individuals. This fostered a patriarchal social structure based on aristocratic *Fazendas*. The plantation owners were a class of owner-operators with strong ties to Portugal. Slavery was a business controlled by the Portuguese.

As the demand for slaves increased, the possibility of obtaining high profitability at low cost emerged. The *asiento* system was implemented, whereby the crown allowed a particularly massive introduction of slaves for an agreed-upon time, and in return, the state received payment. This was the slave trade. From the 18th century onward, the slave trade ceased to be an exclusive preserve of the Portuguese and expanded further.

Absolutism

Absolutism was a form of government characterized by the concentration of power in the figure of the king. Kings ceased to convene parliaments, courts, or the Estates-General, thus concentrating all the power of the state and exercising executive, legislative, and judicial functions.

The kings were despots, but they respected the laws of God and the natural realm. Absolutism favored the nobility, the clergy, and the bourgeoisie but seriously harmed the peasants and the petty bourgeoisie.

The absolute kings resorted to various measures:

• They established policy centers from which they exercised their authority.
• They unified the national market, regulated the economy, and implemented a system that harmed the peasants and the bourgeoisie but favored the nobles and the most important members of the clergy.
• They created a state bureaucracy composed of the gentry.
• They instituted a diplomatic corps.
• They formed a national army.
• They proclaimed themselves leaders of the National Church.