This article compares slave-trading networks in the 1860s and 1870s in Santos and Mogi das Cruzes, two largely dissimilar townships in the south-eastern province of São Paulo, Brazil. These local markets had different structural patterns,... more
This article compares slave-trading networks in the 1860s and 1870s in Santos and Mogi das Cruzes, two largely dissimilar townships in the south-eastern province of São Paulo, Brazil. These local markets had different structural patterns, even though buyers in both places depended on personal connections to procure single or very small lots of slaves. Santos had a more defined network of slave traders, while buyers and sellers in Mogi das Cruzes relied more on family connections. These findings are linked with studies on the internal market in Brazil and other parts of the Americas to show that local slave trading was more important than has been assumed, yet requires greater study to understand fully.
The article discusses the impact a wave of epidemics during late 19th century had on both the slave and free populations of Santos, Brazil. Brazilian’s experienced outbreaks of cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, and bubonic plague that... more
The article discusses the impact a wave of epidemics during late 19th century had on both the slave and free populations of Santos, Brazil. Brazilian’s experienced outbreaks of cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, and bubonic plague that continued into the early 1900s. Particular attention is paid to the confluence of events surrounding a sharp decline in the slave population and deteriorating public health. It is argued that slaves and free people of Santos shared many of the same environmental health risks, while levels of medical care and the number of deaths were vastly unequal. Evidence suggests that the occupation and social status of slave owners had an impact on the types of ailments that groups of slaves suffered.
Tetanus and other widespread endemic diseases of Brazil’s early national period speak to intimate details of common life and give clues to big, vexing questions, such as why Brazil’s population expanded dramatically at the turn of... more
Tetanus and other widespread endemic
diseases of Brazil’s early national period
speak to intimate details of common
life and give clues to big, vexing
questions, such as why Brazil’s
population expanded dramatically at
the turn of the twentieth century.
Tetanus was for a long time one of
Brazil’s deadliest afflictions, especially
among infants, but historians know
very little about it. Using archival
sources from across the Empire and
early Republic, this article argues
tetanus disproportionately killed the
enslaved population, but gradually
diminished in virulence for nearly all
groups across the country by the
second half of the 1800s. This decline
should be attributed only partially to
medical knowledge. Rather, indirect
demographic and technological
changes were more important factors
in Brazil.
The historiographies of Mexico and Brazil have implicitly stated that business networks were crucial for the initial industrialization of these two countries. Recently, differing visions on the importance of business networks have... more
The historiographies of Mexico and Brazil have implicitly stated that business networks were
crucial for the initial industrialization of these two countries. Recently, differing visions on the
importance of business networks have arisen. In the case of Mexico, the literature argues that
entrepreneurs relied heavily on an informal institutional structure to obtain necessary resources and
information. In contrast, the recent historiography of Brazil suggests that after 1890 the network of
corporate relations became less important for entrepreneurs trying to obtain capital and concessions,
once the institutions promoted financial markets and easy entry for new businesses. Did entrepreneurs
in Brazil and Mexico organize their networks differently to deal with the different institutional settings?
How can we compare the impact of the institutional structure of Mexico and Brazil on the networks of
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial finance in general? We explore these questions by looking at the
networks of interlocking boards of directors of major joint stock companies in Brazil and Mexico in
1909. We test whether in Mexico businessmen relied more on networks and other informal
arrangements to do business than in Brazil. In Brazil, we expect to find less reliance of businesses on
networks given that there was a more sophisticated system of formal institutions to mediate transactions
and obtain capital and information. Our hypothesis is confirmed by three related results: 1) the total
number of connections (i.e., the density of the network) was higher in Mexico than Brazil; 2) In Mexico
there was one dense core network, while in Brazil we find fairly dispersed clusters of corporate board
interlocks; and most importantly, 3) politicians played a more important role in the Mexican network of
corporate directors than their counterparts in Brazil. Interestingly, even though Brazil and Mexico
relied on very different institutional structures, both countries grew at similar rates of growth between
1890 and 1913. However, the dense and exclusive Mexican network might have ended up increasing
the social and political tensions that led to the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920).
The article reviews the book "The Sounds of Silence: Nineteenth-Century Portugal and the Abolition of the Slave Trade" by João Pedro Marques, translated by Richard Wall.
Despite the inherent brutality of slavery, some enslaved people could find small but important opportunities to act decisively. The Hierarchies of Slavery in Santos, Brazil, 1822–1888 explores moments of oppression, opportunity, and... more
Despite the inherent brutality of slavery, some enslaved people could find small but important opportunities to act decisively. The Hierarchies of Slavery in Santos, Brazil, 1822–1888 explores moments of oppression, opportunity, and resistance in Santos, a Southeastern township in Imperial Brazil. It argues that slavery in Brazil was hierarchical: enslaved peoples' fleeting chances to form families, work jobs that would not kill or maim, avoid debilitating diseases, or find a (legal or illegal) pathway out of slavery were highly influenced by their demographic background and their owners' social position. By tracing the lives of enslaved people and enslavers through multiple records, the author shows that cruelties were harsh but not equally shared. One important implication is that internal stratification likely helped perpetuate slavery because there was the belief, however illusionary, that escaping captivity was not always necessary for social mobility.
Using more than 2,100 slave runaway announcements from across the Brazilian Empire (1822–1889), this article argues that the typical runaway was an atypical slave. Specifically, runaways were overwhelmingly male and of a limited range of... more
Using more than 2,100 slave runaway announcements from across the Brazilian Empire (1822–1889), this article argues that the typical runaway was an atypical slave. Specifically, runaways were overwhelmingly male and of a limited range of age, worked outdoors and itinerant jobs, and possessed outward (e.g., clothing) and inward (e.g., language and literacy skills) characteristics. This unusual combination put a small minority of bondspeople into a position to flee, while flight remained unthinkable or far too dangerous to the vast majority, even at a point that slavery was presumed to be ending. This finding matters because for more than a half a century, historians have commonly used the runaway slave as the quintessential example of slave resistance. But this interpretation may transform the runaway into an unrepresentative symbol and divert our attention from the many ways that oppression within slavery was, by definition, the lack of opportunities to resist.
[CC] Cambridge University Press must be commended for bringing this skillfully written and translated monograph to an English-speaking audience. The deftness with which Reis (Univ. Federal de Bahia, Brazil), one of Brazil's best... more
[CC] Cambridge University Press must be commended for bringing this skillfully written and translated monograph to an English-speaking audience. The deftness with which Reis (Univ. Federal de Bahia, Brazil), one of Brazil's best historians, traces the interconnected details of thousands of documents within many archives demonstrates this fact. His book fits within a two-decade trend among historians of 19th-century Brazil to explore slavery and freedom by fashioning the larger meaning of the lives of one or several individuals, most often the African freedman. These "contextualized biographies" can touch readers with rich, intimate detail, but they mostly speak of unusual and unrepresentative men. This "microhistory" of 19th-century slavery and African religious practices provides fine detail of the actions of Domingos Sodré, a Candomblé priest in Brazil. Reis's biography of Sodré and others in this vein shows how "elite slaves," to use Sandra Lauderdale Graham's term, preternaturally escaped the claws of a monstrous system. Undergraduates studying Atlantic world slavery or Brazilian history would benefit to learn why many of these exceptional escapees and former slaves bought chattel themselves.
