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For tugúese research on the slave trade 257

The role and impact of the slaves

In economic terms

It would be quite impracticable to give a detailed account of the role of the

African slave in the development (in its various aspects) of all the territories

with slave-based economies. For this reason we endeavoured to give a very

brief (and incomplete) description of this subject in Notas sobre o Tráfico

Portugués ... (p. 9-12), so far as the form of such an essay would allow. It

is a subject that calls for much more research and analysis.

The forced transfer of vast numbers of Africans to sparsely populated

areas brought about changes in local life and had various other repercussions.

One of the most notable of these repercussions was the extensive population of

unoccupied areas, and farming and mining on a scale which would have been

out of the question with the local populations of each region. The other signi-

cant repercussion was the retreat (or stamping out) of the indigenous popu-

lations who had to take refuge in an alien and in some cases hostile environ-

ment, which served only to hasten their decline or disappearance.

It is difficult (or impossible) to single out every aspect of the influence

exerted by slave labour in the general economic development of these areas.

For this reason we are confining our study to Brazil and, specifically, to a

survey of certain products exported in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

This should give us a clearer idea of the way things developed.

Sugar
In 1591, Abreu e Brito drew up an inventory recording the existence in Per-
nambuco of sixty-three sugar plantations with an annual production of
378,000 arrobas of 'brown sugar' worth 75,600 cruzados (one cruzado —
400 reis). In 1629 (Mauro), the number of sugar plantations rose to 346; and
in 1761 (Antonil), exportable production (batido, white, macho and brown)
accounted for the following quantities and values:
Bahia: 14,500 35-arroba chests = 507,500 arrobas. 1,070,204,400 reis.
Pernambuco: 12,300 35-arroba chests = 430,500 arrobas. 834,140,000 reis.
Rio de Janeiro: 10,220 35-arroba chests = 357,700 arrobas. 630,796,400 reis.
Total: 37,020 35-arroba chests = 1,295,700 arrobas. 2,535,142,800 reis.
In 1638, exports were in excess of 1,800,000 arrobas (Mauro).

Hides (sole leather)
Bahia: 50,000. 99,000,000 reis.
Pernambuco: 40,000. 70,000,000 reis.
Rio de Janeiro and other captaincies: 20,000. 32,800,000 reis.
Total: 110,000. 201,800,000 reis.