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Oct 13, 1518
First Sugar Plantation
The labor intensive process of sugar cultivating and refining saw the need for massive labor, reports of up to 800 sugar cane mills operating on Santa Catalina Island alone by 1540. -
Jan 1, 1570
African Slaves First Imported To Work Fields
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Economy, Colony All But Totally Dependent on Slave Labor
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Capoeira Quietly Thrives
With origins unclear but certainly quintessentilaly Brazilian in modern times, the martial art / dance hybrid would go through various phases of denunciation before being held today as a treasure of Brazil's culture. Especially important in the quilombos. -
Gold and Diamonds Discovered
End of the 17th Century saw discoveries of gold and diamond deposits in what was to be called Minas Gerais, the latest of several boom and bust commodities requiring the importation of more and more slaves from Africa. -
Quilombos Raided
After many attempts, the Quilombos de Palmares is smashed and a mode of resistance for slaves is snuffed out. Leader King Zumbi is executed and a folk hero is born. -
Restrictions Lifted On Slave Trade
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Price of Male Slave Skyrockets to 400$000 Reis
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African Ancestry Accounts For 34% of Population
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Slavery Abolished
Though not worth the paper it was printed on in some aspects, given continuing inequality that continues to this day, Brazil as the last Western country to ban slavery did so nominally in 1888. The final tab for the horrors of the previous centuries were 4.5 million Africans taken to Brazil, accounting for 40% of the total slaves taken to the Americas.
