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Technology and Society: The Impact of Gold Mining on the Institution of Slavery in Portuguese America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

A. J. R. Russell-Wood
A. J. R. Russell-Wood
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

This article examines the impact of gold mining on slavery in colonial Brazil. Crown policies, economic pressures, and gold's role as an instrument for social mobility had demographic repercussions—affecting sexual imbalance, the ratio of slaves to freedmen, the availability and distribution of labor. Economic factors determined ethnic origins, slave trade patterns, and the assimilative capability of blacks as illustrated by the slave family. Differences between slavery in mining and plantation societies are emphasized. The transfer of technical skills is signalled as a major African contribution to the New World. The article concludes by assessing the psychological and administrative impact of a black majority.

Type
Papers Presented at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 59 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1977

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References

1 Calogeras, João Pandiá, As minas do Brasil e sua legislação (Rio de Janeiro, 1904–5), I, 85, 222.Google Scholar

2 Pedro de Freitas Tavares Pinto's report of 17 June 1730, APB, Vol. 26, doc. 51. On the desertion of Bahian mining zones for the Diamond District, see APB, Vol. 24, doc. 26; Vol. 29, doc. 143.

3 Economic straits during the 1730s and 1740s were illustrated by such comments as “mizeravel estado destes povos, pella falta de extracao de ouro” (1735 reforms, APMSG, Vol. 24, fols. 33–44v; Yol. 35, doc. 133) and, in reference to the pharmaceutical regimento, “feyto em tempo que se achava nestas terras mais ouro que medicinas; e como no prezente ha tantas como faltas de cabedaes” (APMSG, Vol. 43, fols. 98v-99); Council to king, 5 July 1741, APB, Vol. 52, fols. 89–90v. In a letter of 1 March 1749 the Council of Vila Rica asked for royal patience in collecting the “fifths” in view of the “extrema mizeria e decadencia em que se acha este Pahis em rezão de não haverem descubertos.” APMCMOP, Vol. 54, fol. 177.

4 For estimates of colonial gold production, see Calogeras, As minas, I, 133–48; Simonsen, Roberto C., História económica do Brasil, 1500–1820, 4th ed. (São Paulo, 1962), pp. 283–84Google Scholar; Magalhães Godinho, Vitorino, “Le Portugal, les flottes du Sucre et les flottes de l'or (1670–1770),” Annales, Economies-Sociétés-Civilisations, 5 (Apr.-June 1950), especially 190–97Google Scholar; Boxer, Charles R., The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695–1750. Growing Pains of a Colonial Society (University of California Press, 1969) pp. 57–60, 157, 258–59Google Scholar, and appendices 2 and 3; von Eschwege, Wilhelm L., Pluto Brasiliensis (Berlin, 1833).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Calogeras, As minas, I, 112; Assumar to king, 12 December 1717, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 208v-209. In 1729 Dom João V granted permission to mining experts Alexandre Pichon and Estevao Alier to go to Brazil for three years. APB, Vol. 26, docs. 77, 77a. Instructions (1733) to Martinho de Mendonça de Pina e Proença, on assuming acting governorship of Minas Gerais, urged him to encourage the development of machines to facilitate mining.–Colesam das noticias dos primeiros descobrimentos das Minas na America, que fez o Dr. Caetano da Costa Matoco, sendo Ouvidor Geral das do ouro preto de que tomou posse em Fevro de 1749, fols. 102–106; this fascinating document is in the Municipal Library of Sāo Paulo.

6 This account is based on Ferrand, Paul, L'or à Minas Geraes (Brésil) (Belo Horizonte, 1913), I, 21–67Google Scholar; Calogeras, As minas, I, 111–32; Antonil, André João, Cultura e opulencia do Brasil por suas drogas e minas…, edited with a critical commentary by Mansuy, Andrée (Paris, 1968), Part III, chap. 14Google Scholar. Observations made by Mawe, John, Travels in the Interior of Brazil, Particularly in the Gold and Diamond Districts (London, 1812)Google Scholar and Burton, Richard, Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil with a Full Account of the Gold and Diamond Mines (London, 1869)Google Scholar supplement von Eschwege's classic Pluto Brasiliensis. As early as 1719 at least one hydraulic machine was in operation. APMSG, Vol. 12, fol. 75; RAPM, 1 (July-Sept. 1896), 420.

7 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 247, 271v-72; Vol. 11, fols. 50v-53, 271v-72. Protests by the council of Rio de Janeiro that leading buyers conducted all transactions within the customshouse and enjoyed a virtual monopoly on sales, resulting in higher prices, were rejected by royal advisers in the interests of the overall trade. APB, Vol. 49, fols. 100–5; Vol. 50, fols. 211–12. In a letter of 7 May 1751 to the king, the Council of Vila Rica provided an insight into prevailing values in the mining region: “… grande numero de escravos que são os bens das Minas sendo certo que muyta parte destes estão devendo os mesmos escravos que possuem, parecendo no exterior rico o que na realidade he pobre, e vivendo como pobres muytos que na realidade são ricos…” APMCMOP, Vol. 60, fols. 54v-59v.

8 An alvará (1721), described by the governor as “the most blessed law passed for the mining areas,” ordered that all slaves to be sold to satisfy creditors should be valued and creditors obliged to accept them at a just price. APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 222v-24; Vol. 5, fols. 61v-62; Vol. 16, fols. 85v-86; Vol. 21, fol. 3; Vol. 23, fols. 96–97; Vol. 44, fols. 102v-3; Vol. 46, doc. 34; Vol. 63, doc. 37. Also APMCMOP, Vol. 7, fol. 15; Vol. 9, fols. 51v-52v. On the law of 19 February 1752, see APMSG, Vol. 35, doc. 178; Vol. 50, fols. 56v-57; APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 50v-51v; Vol. 32, fols. 165v-66v; Vol. 63, fols. 34, 130–31; Vol. 69, fols. 115v-16. In his “Instrucção para o governo da capitania de Minas Gerais” (1780), crown judge José João Teixeira Coelho questioned the value of this exemption, RAPM, 8 (Jan.-June 1903), 506–8.

9 Some “mining societies” were established. APMSG, Vol. 44, fols. 103–4v. Collaboration between miners, urged by governor Dom Rodrigo José de Meneses (1780), paid off handsomely, RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 313.

10 On the “fifths,” see Cardozo, Manoel S., “The Collection of the Fifths in Brazil, 1695–1709,” HAHR, 20 (Aug. 1940), 359–79Google Scholar, and his Alguns subsídios para a história da cobrança do quinto na Capitania de Minas Gerais até 1735 (Lisbon, 1937)Google Scholar. On hardships imposed by this tax, see RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 287–309, 320–24; 10 (Jan.-June 1905), 78–82. Impact of fiscal change on miners is described in APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 247, 250; Vol. 35, doc. 133; APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 13v-14; Vol. 60, fols. 54v-59v.

11 On revenues from import taxes, see Ellis, Myriam, Contribuiçāo ao estudo do abastecimento das áreas mineradoras do Brasil no século XVIII (Rio de Janeiro, 1961).Google Scholar

12 Antonil, Cultura, Part I, bk. 3, ch. 9 (especially n.3) and Part III, ch. 7; Schwartz, Stuart B., “The Manumission of Slaves in Colonial Brazil: Bahia, 1684–1745,” HAHR, 54 (Nov. 1974), 628–29Google Scholar; Gomes Freire de Andrada to king, 29 December 1735, APMSG, Vol. 47, fols. 17–18.

13 Estimates based on Goulart, Mauricio, Escravidão africana no Brasil (Das origens à extinçdo do tráfico) (São Paulo, 1949), pp. 149–54, 164–66.Google Scholar

14 On the 1720 decrease, see APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 244v-47v, 287v-88v. The 1723 figure is based on Council of Vila Rica to king, 22 December 1723, APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 9v-10v. A “head count” in 1728, for a “voluntary” contribution to royal marriages, placed the slave population at 52, 348. APMSG, Vol. 24, fols. 4–7; APMDF, Vol. 47, fols. 64v-66v. Figures for 1716–20 are based on capitation records (APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 275–76, 280–81, 287v-88v): allowance must be made for discrepancies in the counting of slaves belonging to clerics. Overall estimates are based on Goulart, Escraviddo, pp. 139–45. His figure for Sahará in 1723 (9,488) should be modified upwards and based on the 1720 capitation (8,031) instead of that for 1718 (which reads 5,771 and not 5,721). Ibid., p. 140, n. 28. See also APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 280–81; Vol. 13, fols. 25v-27, and APMDF, Vol. 44, fols. 13v-15. This brings his estimate of 50,000 more in line with the 53,000 reported above.

In 1743 the two matrículas for the five intendencies recorded respectively: Vila Rica—21,643 and 21,746; Vila do Carmo—25,495 and 24,820; Sahara—22,148 and 22,740; Rio das Mortes—15,380 and 15,340; Serro Frio—8,009 and 7,513; Sertao—895 (one matrícula). Source: RAPM, 2 (July-Sept. 1897), 485.

16 APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 118–19, 130–33v; Vol. 44, fols. 151–56V.

17 See the dire predictions of Assumar to the king, 28 November 1719, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 238–39.

18 Goulart, Escravidão, pp. 141–45, 158, 169; Carneiro, Edison, Ladinos e crioulos (Estudos sôbre o negro no Brasil) (Rio de Janeiro, 1964), pp. 22–23.Google Scholar

19 On the demography of Minas Gerais, see Alden, Dauril, “The Population of Brazil in the Late Eighteenth Century: A Preliminary Study,” HAHR, 43 (May 1963), 180–83, 188Google Scholar. The 1776 census (published in RAPM, 2 [1897], 511 and Publicações do Arquivo National, 9 [1909], 73) recorded 70,664 whites and 249,105 blacks and mulattos.

20 This was a frequent topic in gubernatorial correspondence. APMSG, Vol. 20, doc. 158; Vol. 23, fols. 6, 101, 109v-110; Vol. 32, fols. 86v-88, 105.

21 The 1776 census recorded 41,677 males and 28,987 females. Cf. de Azevedo, Thales, Povoamento da Cidade do Salvador, 2nd. ed. (São Paulo, 1955), pp. 184–206Google Scholar; Curtin, Philip D., The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 19, 28, 46.Google Scholar

22 This percentage is based on figures—931 males, 97 females—for that part of the Morro in the district of António Dias. APMDF, Vol. 39, fols. 49v-108v. Cf. Vol. 35, fol. 134 and Vol. 39, fol. 79v.

23 Population figures for 1786, 1805, 1808, and 1821 are published in RAPM, 4 (1899), 294–96.

24 Sabugosa to king, 23 February 1726, APB, Vol. 20, doc. 105a. This was a widely expressed characterisation of “Minas,” see Russell-Wood, A. J. R., Fidalgos and Philanthropists. The Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Bahia, 1550–1755 (University of California Press, 1968), pp. 51, 68Google Scholar; APB, Vol. 14, doc. 49; APMSG, Vol. 5, fol. 108; Vol. 11, fols. 130–33v; Vol. 29, doc. 3; Antonil, Cultura, Part I, bk. 1, ch. 9.

25 Estimates in Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 205–10 and tables 62, 63. See also Verger, Pierre, Bahia and the West Coast Trade (1549–1851) (Ibadan, 1964)Google Scholar and Flux et reflux de la traite des nègres entre le Golfe de Bénin et Bahia de Todos os Santos du XVIIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris and t h e Hague, 1968).

26 APMDF, Vol. 22; Vol. 39, fols. 49v-108v; the term “Mina” is defined in Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 208–9.

27 APMSG, Vol. 5, fol. 108.

28 On ethnic origins, see APMDF, especially Vols. 19–39. For Bahia, see Ott, Carlos B., Formaçāo e evoluçāo étnica da Cidade do Salvador (Salvador, 1955–1957), I, 53–75 and II, appendix 3Google Scholar; cf. Bowser, Frederick P., The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 1524–1650 (Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 39–44.Google Scholar

29 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 238–39; Vol. 11, fol. 184. On brotherhoods, see Russell-Wood, A. J. R., “Black and Mulatto Brotherhoods in Colonial Brazil: A Study in Collective Behavior,” HAHR, 54 (Nov. 1974), especially 579–81.Google Scholar

30 Klein, Herbert S., “The Portuguese Slave Trade from Angola in the Eighteenth Century,” The Journal of Economic History, 32 (Dec. 1972), 903–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Slaves dispatched by the customshouse in Salvador from January 1736 to May 1737 numbered: Angolans—6,064 adults, 41 infants; “Minas”—4,528 adults, 3 infants. APB, Vol. 33, docs. 71a, 71b.

31 Forde, Daryll, “The Cultural Map of West Africa: Successive Adaptations to Tropical Forests and Grasslands,” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Ser. 11, Vol. 15 (Apr. 1953), 208–10CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Greenberg, Joseph H., The Languages of Africa (Bloomington, 1963), pp. 6–42.Google Scholar

32 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 231v-32, 234v; APMDF, Vol. 19, fol. 58.

33 Percentage decrease of “Minas” by decades was as follows: 1711–20, 60.2 percent; 1721–30, 54.1 percent; 1731–40, 34.2 percent; 1741–50, 29.7 percent; 1751–60, 27.1 percent; 1761–70, 23.5 percent. Source: Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, table 62.

34 Ramos, Donald has written a pioneering study, based on the 1804 census in Vila Rica—“Marriage and the Family in Colonial Vila Rica,” HAHR, 55 (May, 1975), 200–25.Google Scholar

35 Russell-Wood, , “Colonial Brazil,” in Cohen, David W. and Greene, Jack B., editors, Neither Slave nor Free. The Freedman of African Descent in the Slave Societies of the New World (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), pp. 89–90, 94–96, 111–13Google Scholar; Assumar to king, 28 November 1719, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 238–39. In 1747 the attorney of t h e Misericordia referred to protected “escravas dá sociedade” in blackmarket activities. APMCMOP, Vol. 54, fol. 3.

36 APMDF, Vol. 73, fols. 7v-llv; Ramos, “Marriage,” pp. 212–13.

37 de Carvalho, Feu, “Instrucção pública. Primeiras aulas e escolas de Minas Gerais, 1721–1860,” RAPM, 24 (1933), 347–48Google Scholar; on foundlings, see APMCMOP, Vol. 12, fols. 42, 118–20, 144, 147v-48; Vol. 61.

38 APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 170–71, 282v-84, 288v.

39 von Eschwege, Pluto, Part III, ch. 5; “Memoria histórica da capitania de Minas Geraes” (anon.), RAPM, 2 (July-Sept. 1897), 435. The basic medical treatise is Luis Gomes Ferreira's Erario Mineral (Lisbon, 1735)—see Boxer, Golden Age, pp. 184–87.

40 APMSG, Vol. 55, fols. 146v-48v.

41 Safety regulations of 1726 and 1728 were ineffectual. APMSG, Vol. 27, fols. 26, 45v-46.

42 Council of Carmo to King, 17 October 1744, RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 289–92; José Vieira Couto, “Memoria sobre as minas da Capitania de Minas Geraes,” RAPM, 10 (Jan.-June 1905), 78. The lowest estimate was seven years. Boxer, Golden Age, p. 174.

43 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 234v.

44 On food costs, see Antonil, Cultura, Part III, ch. 7; Goulart, Escravidão, pp. 134–36. Municipal edicts on hygiene were numerous—for example, APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 42, 47 and Vol. 54, fol. 177 inter alia.

45 APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 183v-90v; Vol. 32, fol. 229v; Vol. 33, fols. 5–6, 63–64; Vol. 43, fol. 25v; Vol. 49, fols. 48, 56v-57.

46 “… por haver preto qʼ antes qr uzar do seu fumo qʼ do comer por ser este duas vezes no dia e aquelle continuo …”, APMSG, Vol. 59, fols. 60–61.

47 RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 317.

48 Gomes Freire de Andrada to king, 30 August 1735, APMSG, Vol. 46, doc. 54. The Frenchman António Labedrene was the first appointee. APMCMOP, Vol. 28, fols. 137–38; Vol. 33, fols. 53v-54v; Vol. 32, fol. 179; Vol. 107, fols. 257v-58v, 263v-65.

49 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 224v; Vol. 35, doc. 105.

50 Abuses included the division of otherwise economically viable operations, and the piecemeal sale of slaves, equipment, and concessions fora fraction of their true value. APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 222v-24; APMCMOP, Vol. 7, fols. 59–61v; Vol. 9, fol. lv; Vol. 37, fols. 48v-50; Vol. 65, fols. 271–72v; APB, Vol. 11, docs. 93, 94. Teixeira Coelho listed the division of mining properties as one cause of decline, “Instrucção,” 508–11. A typical case involved Jorge Azere of Pitangui in 1737. Pending a court ruling, Azere petitioned for access to water denied him by Felippe de Lacontria, alleging that otherwise 50 to 60 slaves would be idle. APMSG, Vol. 59, fol. 27.

51 APMSG, Vol. 44, fols. 106v-07.

52 APMSG, Vol. 35, doc. 110; Vol. 50, fols. 80–82v, 90–96v; Schwartz, “Manumission,” 627–28.

53 In a 1753 report the chancellor of the high court of Bahia noted that prior to the discovery of gold, migrants had been satisfied to settle as factors or bursars on plantations, or be employed as cowboys; the exploitation of gold had disrupted this pattern. APB, Vol. 50, fols. 305v, 311.

54 This account is based on Barbot, Jean, Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea … (London, 1746), bk. III, chs. 4, 11, 17, 18, 20Google Scholar; Meyerowitz, E. L. R., The Sacred State of the Akan (London, 1951) pp. 198–205Google Scholar; Rattray, R. S., Ashanti (London, 1923), pp. 300–15Google Scholar; Dark, Philip J. C., An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology (Oxford, 1973)Google Scholar. In 1816 the Dutch governor-general in ElMina observed that the slave trade had contributed to the drastic reduction in gold diggers. See Wilks, Ivor, Asante in the Nineteenth Century. The Structure and Evolution of a Political Order (Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 679Google Scholar; cf. pp. 244–45, 434–36.

55 APMSG, Vol. 20, doc. 45; Vol. 77, docs. 139, 140; APMCMOP, Vol. 56, fol. 37; Vol. 65, fols. 46v-52v; Vol. 81, fols. 213v-15; APB, Vol. 32, docs. 102, 102a, 102b; Vol. 66, fols. 269–70.

56 APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 25–26.

57 Conflicting interests of miners and storekeepers produced heated and divisive debate. APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 31v-32v; Vol. 63, fols. 166v-69, 171v-76; Vol. 65, fols. 239v-45v.

58 APMSG, Vol. 15, fols. 109v-110; Vol. 60, fols. 110v-14v, 118v-19v; Vol. 84, fols. 109v-ll. Definitions of a quilombo depended on numbers and permanency. APMSG, Vol. 2, fols. 108v-110; Vol. 59, fol. 102; APMCMOP, Vol. 43, fols. 83v-86v. For a survey, see de Almeida Barbosa, Waldemar, Negros e quilombos em Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, 1972).Google Scholar

59 Both were planned for Maundy Thursday: 1719-APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 117v–127, 130–33v, 170–71; 1756—APMCMOP, Vol. 65, fols. 236v-43.

60 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 209v-10v, 214v-15, 218–19v, 238–39. One outcome of this fear was negrophobia embracing blacks and mulattos, slaves and freedmen. Typologies of slave resistance are discussed in Frederickson, George M. and Lasch, Christopher, “Resistance to Slavery,” Civil War History, 13 (Dec. 1967), 315–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Comparison of “plots” and areas with black majorities in the English colonies would be rewarding, vide Wade, Richard C., “The Vesey Plot: A Reconsideration,” The Journal of Southern History, 30 (May 1964), 143–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wood, Peter H., Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion (New York, 1974)Google Scholar. I am indebted to Willie Lee Rose, Roger Ekirch, and Daniel Littlefield for much illuminating discussion on this theme.

61 APMSG, Vol. 50, fols. 43–44, 79, 82v-83; Vol. 84, fols. 108v-111; ANRJ, Codex 952, Vol. 33, fol. 390.

62 This measure had been suggested to Assumar by the French colonial precedent. APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 130–33v, 170–71. Royal approval for the creation of a judicial junta in 1731, with authority to pass sentence of death on blacks, mulattos, and carijós, represented the extension to Minas Gerais of a privilege already granted to Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Pernambuco. APMSG, Vol. 1, fols. 70v-78v; Vol. 2, fol. 125; RAPM, 2 (Jan.-June 1904), 347–48.

63 APMSG, Vol. 1, fols. 181v-82v, 191v-92v; Vol. 5, fols. 180v-83; Vol. 10, fols. 74b, 79; Vol. 37, fols. 48–49v; APMCMOP, Vol. 33, fols. 26–27v; APB, Vol. 47, fols. 130–35.

64 “… estes Americanos reputão os seus negros por semiDeoses …”, APMSG, Vol. 13, fol. 13.

65 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 204; Vol. 11, fols. 279–80, 282v-84; Vol. 27, fols. 14v-15; APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 53v-54.

66 APMSG, Vol. 2, fols. 108v-10; Vol. 21, fol. 93; Vol. 50, fols. 80–82v. In 1783 the Council of Mariana protested to the queen that fees for “bushwhacking captains” established in 1722 were now out of keeping with economic reality, the cost of redeeming a slave exceeding his value. APMSG, Vol. 19, docs. 99,119.

67 “… porq” he sem duvida qʼ nada desperta tanto a confiança dos negros como a qʼ delles fazem os homens brancos,” APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 130–33v.

68 Assumar proposed that masters be reimbursed from a communal fund. APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 214v-15; cf. Vol. 4, fols. 218–19v, 227v; Vol. 11, fols. 118–22v.