Slavery in Brazil

This is the first complete modern survey of the institution of slavery in Brazil and how it affected the lives of enslaved Africans.

Herbert S. Klein (Author), Francisco Vidal Luna (Author)

9780521141925, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 October 2009

376 pages, 35 b/w illus. 40 tables
22.7 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.498 kg

"This invaluable overview sums decades of research and reflection about what makes the slavery system in Brazil fundamentally different from many others." -Mariana P. Candido, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Brazil was the American society that received the largest contingent of African slaves in the Americas and the longest lasting slave regime in the Western Hemisphere. This is the first complete modern survey of the institution of slavery in Brazil and how it affected the lives of enslaved Africans. It is based on major new research on the institution of slavery and the role of Africans and their descendants in Brazil. Although Brazilians have incorporated many of the North American debates about slavery, they have also developed a new set of questions about slave holding: the nature of marriage, family, religion, and culture among the slaves and free colored; the process of manumission; and the rise of the free colored class during slavery. It is the aim of this book to introduce the reader to this latest research, both to elucidate the Brazilian experience and to provide a basis for comparisons with all other American slave systems.

Part I. The Political Economy of Slave Labor: 1. Origins of African slavery in Brazil
2. The establishment of African slavery in Brazil in the 16th & 17th century
3. Slavery and the economy in the 18th century
4. Slavery and the economy in the 19th century
5. The economics of slavery
Part II. Brazilian Slave Society: 6. Life, death, and migration in Afro-Brazilian slave society
7. Slave resistance and rebellion
8. Family, kinship and community
9. Freedmen in a slave society
Part III. End of Slavery: 10. Transition from slavery to freedom.

Subject Areas: Slavery & abolition of slavery [HBTS], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG]