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A ''fazenda'' () is a plantation found throughout Brazil during the colonial period (16th - 18th centuries). They were concentrated primarily in the northeastern region, where sugar was produced in the ''engenhos'', expanding during the 19th century in the southeastern region to coffee production. Nowadays ''fazenda'' denotes any kind of farm in Brazilian Portuguese and occasionally in other Portuguese varieties as well.
''Fazendas'' created major export commodities for Brazilian trade, but also led to intensification of slavery in Brazil. Coffee provided a new basis for agricultural expansion in southern Brazil. In the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and then São Paulo, coffee estates, or ''fazendas'', began to spread toward the interior as new lands were opened. By 1850 coffee made up more than 50% of Brazil's exports, which amounted to more than half of the world's coffee production.
Along with the expansion of coffee growing came an intensification of slavery as the country's primary form of labor. More than 1.4 million
Combating Forced Labour in Brazil
International Labour Organization (ILO).
A ''fazenda'' () is a plantation found throughout Brazil during the colonial period (16th - 18th centuries). They were concentrated primarily in the northeastern region, where sugar was produced in the ''engenhos'', expanding during the 19th century in the southeastern region to coffee production. Nowadays ''fazenda'' denotes any kind of farm in Brazilian Portuguese and occasionally in other Portuguese varieties as well.
''Fazendas'' created major export commodities for Brazilian trade, but also led to intensification of slavery in Brazil. Coffee provided a new basis for agricultural expansion in southern Brazil. In the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and then São Paulo, coffee estates, or ''fazendas'', began to spread toward the interior as new lands were opened. By 1850 coffee made up more than 50% of Brazil's exports, which amounted to more than half of the world's coffee production.
Along with the expansion of coffee growing came an intensification of slavery as the country's primary form of labor. More than 1.4 million Africans
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
were forced into slavery in Brazil in the last 50 years of the slave trade, and even after the trans-Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
ended, slavery continued in the country until 1888, when it was abolished by the so-called Golden Law.
Because of the increased profit from the coffee trade, the years after 1850 saw considerable growth and prosperity in Brazil. Railroads, steamships and telegraph lines were introduced in Brazil, all paid for by the money the ''fazendas'' supplied from their coffee crop. In growing cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, a middle class consisting of merchants, lawyers and an urban working class grew, once again, paid for by the money coming from the ''fazendas''.
Modern forced labour practices
More than 100 years after the end of slavery, forced labour practices in Brazil still occur in both rural and urban areas, mainly throughdebt bondage
Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...
schemes. In rural areas, workers are detained on farms until they pay their debts, which are often fraudulently incurred. Their identity documents and work permits are often seized by the employer. They are often under surveillance of armed guards. Those who protest are physically threatened; if they try to escape, they may be killed.International Labour Organization (ILO).
See also
*Coffee cycle
The coffee cycle () was a period in Brazil's economic history, beginning in the mid-19th century and ending in 1930, in which coffee was the main export product of the Brazilian economy. The coffee cycle succeeded the gold cycle, which had come ...
*Hacienda
An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...
References
{{Economy of Brazil Coffee production Colonial Brazil Debt bondage European colonization of South America History of agriculture in Brazil Plantations Slavery in Brazil