History of Brazil

Brazil Travel & Tours / History - For three centuries (1550 - 1850), during most part of the colonial period, more than four million Africans were brought to Brazil for the slave work on plantations, in distilleries, in gold mines and in the houses of the upper class.

One of five slaves already died during the shipment. Once in Brazil, the slaves (who were also called pieces) were not sold for money but instead exchanged for sugar, alcohol or tobacco.

The slave traffic to Brazil, was also supported by the Jesuits because the Africans were better organized and efficient at work than the Indians. Slavery started to decrease in 1815, when England probibited this trade.

In 1850, the justice minister Euzébio Queiroz signed a law which definitely probibited slave trade with Brazil.

See also: Quilombos