Posse de escravos e estrutura da riqueza no agreste e sertão de Pernambuco: 1777-1887

Abstract

O artigo reporta achados de um programa de pesquisa em andamento sobre as características do escravismo em Pernambuco, com ênfase no século XIX. A partir da evidência de que uma parcela significativa do estoque de escravos da província estava localizada, no período, fora de sua área açucareira - ou seja, no Agreste e no Sertão - investigam-se as características de tais escravos, a partir de dados de inventários post mortem. Verifica-se que os escravos no Agreste e Sertão (i) em geral pertenciam a pequenos plantéis; (ii) tinham o perfil demográfico esperado de cativos comprados para utilização produtiva; (iii) constituíam proporção preponderante dos ativos inventariados, em valor, mesmo depois do significativo aumento nos preços de escravos, na segunda metade do século. Esses achados contrariam a idéia, comumente expressa na literatura, de que algodão e gado, as atividades produtivas típicas do Agreste e Sertão, não pudessem ser explorados com uso de trabalho escravo, e reforçam evidências de outros autores sobre a importância da escravidão de pequenos plantéis, no Brasil.<br>The article is a progress report on an on-going research program on slavery in the Brazilian Northeast. The characteristics of slave labor outside the coastal sugar zone of Pernambuco province are investigated. It is found that there were significant slave holdings in the cattle-raising, cotton-growing regions of the province, in the backlands, contrary to a commonly-held belief that those activities were not suited to be performed by slave labor. Slave holdings were generally small; and the demographic profile of the slave population was that expected of a labor force productively used by profit-maximizing slave-owners. The proportion of the value of slave holdings in total assets is surprisingly high, and does not tend to decrease after the sharp increase in slave prices in the second half of the nineteenth century. Those findings add to the increasing evidence, in the literature, on the importance of small slave holdings in Brazil

The Economics of Urban Slaveholding in Santiago, Chile, 1773-1810

“… 13 The question of the persistence of slavery in urban settings characterised by extensive labour markets has also been broached by Versiani and Vergolino (2003, pp. 357-358).…”

A história de João Potro: Trajetória e relações de reciprocidade de uma família subalterna no sul do Brasil (1820-1855)

“…As versões sustentadas por ambas as partes eram conflitantes quanto à identidade de João Potro e, por consequência, também no que no que se refere à sua história de vida. Segundo Mariano Teixeira, o homem capturado dois anos antes e levado sob coação para Caçapava era seu cativo João, filho de sua escrava Felicidade, nascido (Zarth, 2002;Osório, 2008;Bell, 1998;Farinatti, 2010a;Garcia, 2005;Foletto, 2003;Araújo, 2008;Fontella, 2013;Corrêa, 2013;Matheus, 2016).…”

The cotton trade and Brazilian foreign commerce during the industrial revolution

“…123 In regions with political regimes that are not sufficiently democratic, opposition to technology adoption increases when groups with political power can be hurt by technological innovation, a result that also finds evidence in the support for trade liberalization. 124 For Maranhão, however, these barriers do not seem to have existed, since there was no clear interest group that would have the incentive to block improvements in cotton production and support trade restrictions. 125 The next chapter, therefore, will discuss a central cause for low productivity growth in Brazilian cotton plantations: high export taxes that reduced profit margins to cotton planters.…”

“…After the Seven Years' War and through the 1763 Treaty, the former French possessions of Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Tobago, became British possessions and rapidly became important exporters of cotton. 124 The missing information in After the conflicts ended, Britain renewed its commercial ties with the French West Indies. Table 2.7 indicates that most of Britain's raw cotton imports in 1787 actually originated from possessions of other nations, an issue that raised concerns among the British about foreign dependency, especially whether imports were predominantly controlled by France.…”

“…123 Nonetheless, Brazilian literature shows that the idea of a constant increase in real slave prices up to 1850 is widely held, especially between 1820 and 1840, when nominal prices doubled. 124 According to Bergad, for example, the expansion of the coffee industry in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as well as British pressure to end the slave trade, caused a rapid increase in prices in Minas Gerais during the 1830s.…”