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Poor man's crop? Slavery on Brazilian cotton regions (1800-1850)

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  • Thales A. Zamberlan Pereira

Abstract

The literature about cotton production in Brazil during the nineteenth century in large part associates cotton as a “poor man’s crop” – cultivated by small farmers who did not employ a large slave labor force. Information from population maps between 1800 and 1840, however, shows that slaves represented half the population in Maranhão, the most important cotton exporter in Brazil until 1850. This represented a higher share than that observed in any northeast region in Brazil, and was comparable to those recorded in the United States’ Cotton South. This paper shows that, during the cotton boom years (1790-1820), not only large plantations cultivated the cotton exported from northeast Brazil to Britain and other countries in Europe, but also that slave prices were higher in Maranhão than in other provinces.

Suggested Citation

  • Thales A. Zamberlan Pereira, 2017. "Poor man's crop? Slavery on Brazilian cotton regions (1800-1850)," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2017_10, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
  • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2017wpecon10
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Slavery; cotton; Northeast Brazil;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J47 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Coercive Labor Markets
    • N36 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • N96 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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