Economy and slave society: Minas Gerais and São Paulo in 1830

Abstract

The economy and society of Minas Gerais and São Paulo in 1830 are analyzed in this article based on manuscript sources. The economy in that period consisted of a majority of slave owners with few slaves, where ownership of them was widely distributed and where there was even a large group of free blacks, including emancipated slaves. These characteristics were different from the model found in slave systems dominated by large plantations. In fact, slavery in Minas and São Paulo seems to have resembled the slave system in the United States more than that found on the sugar-producing islands in the West Indies. But in Brazil slaves were more uniformly distributed by region and occupation. The demographic structure of the slaves showed little potential for reproduction, with a high proportion of married slaves in São Paulo. Miscegenation was considerable, with a high proportion of mulattos and other persons of mxed race, some of them free, especially in Minas.