The Africans who came to Brazil enslaved between the 16th and 19th centuries did not only work on the sugarcane plantations. As we will analyze in this text, there were different forms of slave labor in Brazil.
Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the sugarcane mills were constituted as the main economic activity in the colonial period, however many slaves worked (mainly in Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and other coastal cities) as stevedores, boatmen, vendors, apprentices, masters in crafts and services household appliances.
From the 18th and 19th centuries, with the rise of mining in Minas Gerais and Goiás, thousands of slaves went to work in the mines and other activities (such as agriculture) that moved the economy in the regions auriferous. Other forms of slave labor were: cattle raising in northeastern Brazil; the work performed in tropeirismo (known as tropeiros, exercised commercial activities from one region to another); and the work of looking after and caring for animals carrying goods.
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In cities, forms of slave labor varied widely. There were service slaves, that is, slaves for gain, carpenters, barbers, shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, among others. Women were also engaged in slave labor: they generally worked as wet nurses, confectioners and street vendors (ie, the so-called “black boarders”). Therefore, in Brazil there was a great diversity in the forms of slave labor.
Leandro Carvalho
Master in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
OAK, Leandro. "Forms of slave labor in Brazil"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/formas-trabalho-escravo-no-brasil.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
