CONTINUED FROM ABOVE The Sugar Boom (17th century)

"The Portuguese brought sugar cane to Brazil early in the colonial period, but the sugar industry developed slowly. It was a relatively new crop to the Europeans and it was a labor-intensive crop. This proved a problem because the Native Americans the Portuguese attempted to enslave did not prove suitable. Sugar would prove central to Brazilian economy aswell as to the history of Brazilian slavery. It was sugar that made Brzilian plantations really profitable and this fueled the demand for the large numbers of slaves needed to work them. The settlers first tried to enslave the Natives to work the developing plantations. The Native Americans proved unsuitable, primarily because the died in large numbers when exposed to European diseases. As a result, the settlers began to turn to Africans. The Portuguese ha begun to trade in captive Africanas, albeit in small numbers, as they began moving south down the coast of Africa (15th century). The first Brazilian sugar plantation was operating very early in the colonial era (1518). The industry grew very rapidly. Martim Afonso de SousaThe founded the first colony(1532). One report suggests that Santa Catalina Island had some 800 operating sugar cane mills (1540). The Brazilian sugar industry boomed and the colony became Europe's main supplier of sugar. Sugar at the time did not come from the Caribbean in any quantity. Until this the Arabs had been the main supplier, but a astronomical prices making it a luxury for the nobility and wealthier merchants. Brazil changed this. With the large quanities of Brazilian sugar reaching Europe at more reasonable prices, a much larger market began to grow. And Brazil, especially the northern coast, privided virtually perfect conditions for raising sugarcane........The Portuguese became leaders in the Atlantic slave trade and the major destination was Brazil. Over a third of all the slaves tranported to the Americas were landed in Brazil, the great majority to work on the sugar plantations. "

Dutch Era (1630-54)

"The Dutch incursions into Brazil proved the greatest threat to the Portuguese. The Portuguese became involved with the Hapsburg attmpt to supress the Reformation in Germany and the related rebellion of the Dutch. A succession crisis in Portugal led to a personal union under the Habsburg rule after the War of the Portuguese Succession, Spanish King Philip II of Spain thus controlled Portugal as part of the Iberian Union (1580). This meant that Portugal and Brazil became involved in the Dutch War of Independence (1581-1648). Philip II prohibited trade with the Dutch (1581). The Dutch were at a disadvantage in land warfare with the Spanish, but their expanding naval fleet gave them the ability to strike at the colonies. The result was the Dutch–Portuguese War (1602-61). The War was waged by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company against the Portuguese Empire.... The Dutch also attacked the Portuguese African possessions. This was an attmpt to seize control of the profitable slave trade which at the time was dominated by the Portuguese. Elmina and other Portuguese Gold Coast trade posts were taken and Luanda was put to siege. As a result, the flow of West African slaves was interupted and from this point most Brazilian slaves were imorted from southern Africa....The Dutch controlled northern Brazil for more than two decades. One impact of their presence was a boost to the sugar industry, a hugely valuable commodity at the time. The economics of sugar meant that it became the leading crop in Brazil. Dutch investors commited considerable funds. This was coordinated through the Dutch West India Company.......The greatest victor may have been the English who benefitted by the decades long war between its two main rivals in the Far East. The Dutch were ultimately forced to relinquish control of northern Brazil (1654). The principal result of the Dutch experience in Brazil was that when they were finally expelled, they brought sugar industry technology to the Caribbean. And this meant that the Portuguese in Brazil no longer dominated the sugar trade. " NOTE: Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Portugal and Spain during the Inquisition fled to Holland (Dutch) America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica. The resulting hatred of Spain and Portugal led the refugees to ally with the Dutch and English against them. The Sephardi in Holland eventually were the major investors in the Dutch West India company. Large numbers migrated to the American Dutch colony of New Holland (New York). Many also took their sugar cane plantation technology to the English controlled island of Barbados and set up sugar plantations and labor supply with the DRAX brothers.

Colonial Brazil (17th and 18th centururies)

"Colonial Brazil developed the largest slave population in the world, substantially larger than that of the United States. The Portuguese who settled Brazil needed labor to work the large estates and mines in their new Brazilian colony. They turned to slavery which became central to the colonial economy. It was particularly important in the mining and sugar cane sectors. Slavery was also the mainstay in the Caribbean islands with economies centered on sugar. Estimates suggest that about 35 percent of captured Africans involved in the Atlantic slave trade were transported to Brazil. Estimates suggest that more than 3 million Africans reached Brazil, although precise numbers do not exist. Slavery was widely practiced. Brazilians of all classes owned slaves. Slaves were not only owned by upper and middle-class Brazilians, but also by lower-class Brazilians. There were even slaves who owned other slaves. And even though Brazil had the largest slave poplation in the world, the numbers of people impacted are much larger than commonly portrayed. Brazilian sugar plantations were essentially death camps. If the demographic impact of the massive death toll at the sugar plantations are computed the numbers would be staggering. "

"One historian estimsates about 3.6 million Africans transported to Brazil. [Taunay]. He estimated that most were brough to brazil in he 18th ad 19th century: 0.1 million (16th century), 0.6 million (17th cenury), 1.3 million (18th century), and 1.6 million (19th century). The level of slave shipments during the 19th century is notable given the fact that the Royal Navy was engaged in a major campaign to end the slave trade at the time. About 40 percent of the estimated 11 million Africans transported in the Atlantic slave trade went to Brazil." https://histclo.com/act/work/slave/am/sa-bra.html

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