CDU 338-664.

1(81)(091)

SUGAR IN BRAZIL: ITS EARLY DEVELOPMENTS AND

INTERNATIONAL CONNEGTIONS IN TFIE XVI
AND XVII CENTURIES

Frank Moya Pons

It is relatively well known today the eastto-west route of expansion ot

sugar cane cultivation from Indiaand Persia to the eastern Mediterranean, and
from there to the islands ot SiciIy and Cyprus, from where it spread and was
incorporated into the agriculture of southern Italy, Andalucia and Granada, in
Spain, in a process in which the Arabs were the main protagonists and which
took about three centuries to take place, se that by the XIVth century sugar
was a much sought-after luxury product and a drug with a constant demand
trom princes, bourgeois and pharrnacists. 1 This process was followed by the
dissemination of sugar production into the newly discovered Atlantic islands
of Azores, Madeira, Cabo Verde and São Tomé by the Portuguese inihe XVth
century at a moment when the affluent classes of Europe began to switch on
its consumption from a drug to a basic caloric staple which rather rapidly was
substituting honey as a favorite sweetener for candies, beverages and other
cooking needs. It is also well known that the Spaniards transferred the sugar
technology they had Iearned from the Arabs, from Andalucia and Granada, to
the recently acquired Canarjes Islands in the Iate XVth century thus creating,
together with the Portuguese, a strong competition to the Mediterranean sugars
whose markets and commercialization networks had been in dispute betweeui
the Venetians and the Genoese in the Iast two nundred years. 2 This
competition, and the rise ot the supply coming from the Atlantic islands
brought sugar prices down at the end of the XVth century and made this
commodity more available to the consumers of the lower classes in Europe. 3
Far from being detrimental to the market, this extraordinary availability

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248 Sugar inBrazil

of sugar increased its demand at such a rapid rato that by 1510 the prices were
going up again as the supply was beconiing insufficient. Both Portuguese and
Spanish producers made efforts to expand their production, and in the case of
the latter the price rise had a special impact among the encomenderos of
Hispaniola who by 1515 were facing an econoniic crisis as the production of
the gold mines of this island was being exhausted and its Indian population
liquidated. As it is known, the richest of these encomenderos decided to invest
their savings in the construction of sugar milis in Hispaniola and asked the
favor of the Spanish Crown for tax incentives and special licences to ímport
black slaves to substitute the Indian labor which was practically exlEusted by
1520. 4 Thus, at the beginriing of the XVlth century sugar was already in the
New World.
As far as we know, the early technology was similar both in the
Portuguese and iri the Spanish Atlantic islands. Portuguese, Genoese and Canarios
becarne famous maestros de azucar and were very much looked for by the new
muI owners in Hispaniola and, later, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru and Brazil.
Sugar manufacturing consisted basically in:the use of a sãngle roud stone
grihder, or á two or three roUer grinde, ínõvéd by watèr ór by animal ór human
force, 5 which crushed the canes while the resultant juice was collected by the
operators, who put it into a series of boilers which at different ternperatures
purified the syrup until it became a molasse. This intermediate product was
then poured into special molds, called formas, where it was filtered and
crystallized until it became the final product, whose quality varied very widely
according to many technical and ecological factors. 6 Sugar producing in the
middle of the XVlth century was a technically simple but very exhausting
activity for it implied many different processes from the basic preparation and
tilting of the land to the supervision of forced labor, and from the proper
harvesting of the cane to the crystallization and refining process which should
end in the marketing af the product, both locally and in Europe.
Sugar production was a capital-intensive business, and could not develop
fully in the New World without fiscal support of the State and the financial
assistance of private capitalists. This was quite clear in the beginnings of the
sugar industry in Hispaniola, between 1518 and 1527, and in Brazíl frorn 1516
onwards when the King Don Manuel sent a royal decree to the feitor and other
officials of the Caso da Ind/a, giving them orders for "que procurassem e eleges-
sem um homem prático e capaz de ir ao Brasil dar princípio a um engenho de
açúcar; e que lhes desse sua ajuda de custo e também todo o cobre e ferro e mais
cousas necessárias ao levantamento da fábrica." 7 Although this first effort
did not crystallize immediately, it is certain that when the Portuguese started
the construction of mills in Brazil around 1532 the Crown protected these
activities and, at the same time, allowed Portuguese investors to associate
then,selves with Dutch and Elemish merchants and traders who had the necessary
capitais to finance their operations and, which is more important, possessed the
control of the commercialization networks for the marketing of sugar in the
Netherlands, and northern Europe. 8
Thanks to the Dutch connection could the Portuguese compete favorably

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 Frank Moya Pons
249

in the European market by beating up the Venetians and the Genoese, and could
the sugar production of the Portuguese Atlantic islands develop to their fuli
capabiiities, whiie transforming in some instances the economic structures of
some of these insular territories. In the case of- Madeira for exampie, it is
iliustrative to notice how the wheat economy disappeared to give way to sugar in
the iate XVth century and during ali the XVith century, when Madeira increased
its production of sugar from 70,000 arrobas in 1508 to 200,000 arrobas in
1570, 9 aithough the number af sugar miiis deciined from 80 in 1490 to 35 in
1590, showing an evident concentration of production and/or an eniargement of
the size of the rniiis or the increased grinding capabiiities of the engenhos. 1
the case of the other Portuguese isiands the Dutch connection was also favorabie,
aithough in the Azores sugar cane was never able to produce enough saccharine
due to ecoiogicai causes, and hera the sugar industry remained a very weak
economic activity, with the exception of São Tomé island, in the GuIf of Guinea,
where it deveioped quickly and steadiiy ali throughout the XVith century thanks
to the association of its producers with some Dutch traders who operated at
Lisbon and had been abie to secure some tax exemptions heiping to make São
Tomé sugar the cheapest of ali Portuguese sugars by 1580, inciuding that of
Madeira and Brazil."11
Brazii did not escape from this pattern of foreign and Dutch invoivement
in lhe sugar business. We know that by 1555 Martin Afonso de Souza had been
aiready associated with the German enterpreneur Erasmo Schetz for the
operation of the third miv buiit in the Capitania de São Vicente, which was
known as the "Engenho do Trato" or the "Engenho do Senhor Governador".
Souza also bought part of another sugar mil[ from a Fiemish capitaiist named
João van Hieist, enhancing his interests and creating the 50 cailed Sociedade
Hieist & Schetz, which operated the weii known Engenho dos Armadores.
This deai was a clear exampie of the internationai capitaiist enterprises in which
the Qutch were so much invoived at that time. 12
As to the creation of the sugar industry in Brasil, there are stiili Some
obscure facts on which there is not ciear agreement among the authors who have
written about this subject. Simonsen 13 and Pedro Caimon 14 suggest that
there was some sort of sugar making about 1526 in Pernambuco done by a man
named Pedro Capico, and Simonsen quotes Varnhagen saying that there were
some taxes coilected at Lisbonne from the export of this sugar in 1526. But
most authors agree that the real beginning of a continuous industrial activity
dates from 1532-1533, when Martin Afonso de Souza was Captain General of
São Vicente and gave fuil support to those who decided to invest in the
construction of new sugar miiis. This support went on according with royal
instructions which succeeded one after the other in subsequent years giving
out legai and fiscal protection and incentives to lhe senhores de engenho. From
then on, as we have seen, itaiians, Fiemish, Germans and Outch capitaiists
associated themseives with the Portuguese, among whom there were some
enriched marranos, who had received sesmarias from the donatários and
capitanes gerais At least five engenhos were buiit in the capitanias de São Vicen-
te and Rio de Janeiro between 1532 and 1560, as a result of these incentive

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250 Sugar in Brazi!

policies. At the sarne time, other efforts were being made by other entrepreneurs
to build sugar mills in the eastern and northern capitanias. Some of these efforts
failed, like those made in Espiritu Santo, due especially to Indian attacks and to
inadequate soil conditions, so that by 1550 this region had not yet developed a
sugar industry. But it was in the northeastern coastal fringe which spans frorn
Bahia to Paraíba that Brazil was to experience the sugar boom of the middle and
Iate XVI century.
There, the tamous massapê soil and the abundance of srnall rivers,
together with densa forests which supplied abundant wood for fuel, provived the
iny estors with an alrnost ideal haven to establish their plantations and sugar
factories. 15 Thus, the sugar milis rnultiplicated and by 1570 the capitanias of
Porto Seguro, Ilhéus, Bahia, Sergipe and Pernambuco could boast of 55 enge-
nhos, whose plantations produce a much better cane than that of the Portuguese
Atlantic islands since the especial conditions of the soil were exceptionally
suited to cane cultivation. 15a
The sugar industry of Bahia and Pernambuco enjoyed a great leap
forward under the governorships of Duarte da Costa e Mem de Sá who encouraged
and protected it in spite of the difficulties in getting enough and manageable
labor force from the Indian population which resisted to be enslaved by the
senhores de engenho. Labor supply was not the Ieast irnportant of the
requirements for setting up a sugar mill anywhere in the XVI century, and in
Brazil it was particularly embarrassing, due to the Indian resistance to work
in the plantations and milis, and to the resilience of the Jesuits to permit the
enslavement of the l ndians whom they preferred to see concentrated in the
aldeias that the Compania de Jesus had designed for civilizing and christianizing
them. There was a bitter dispute between the Jesuits and the senhores de
engenho on this issue 16 which the Crown tried to solve when King Dom
Sebastião prohibited the enslavement of the lndians by a decree in 1570. The
scarcity of labor was badly felt by the sugar producers from the very beginnings
of the industry when the Indians were perceived unsuitable to their needs, either
because of their resistance to work in the plantation or because of the Jesuits'
opposition to let them be enslaved. In view of these difficulties, the Portuguese
crown had already issued a decree on March 29, 1559 to the Captain General
of the São Vicente lsland ordering him that each senhor de engenho from Brazil
be permitted to import from Congo up to 120 black slaves, paying only one-
third of the normal taxes. For a time black and Indian labor coexisted one
beside the other in the engenhos. 17 but after the decree of Don Sebastião in
1570 labor scarcily grew up, as new mills were put under construction and
fewer lndians were available to work lhe land. 18
According to Frederic Mauro, 19 70 new mills were built in Brazil
between 1570 and 1583, and 72 other mills were constructed between 1583 and
1610 in the northern and southern coastal regions of Brazil, so that by the
beginning of the XVII century, Portuguese America could boast of 40 mills in
the South, 50 in the Center, and 140 in the North. Obviously, the demand for
labor increased and, according to contemporary sources, it has been estimated
"that between 10,000 and 15,000 Negro slavesfrom West Africa were landed in

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 Frank Moya Pons 251

Brazilian ports in an averagely good year, the great majority of them coming
from Angola durin9 the iast quarter of the sixteenth century". 20 The results
of this traffic have been extensiveiy studied both from the demographic 21 and
from the social points of view,22 and we will not deai with them in these pagas.
it is enough to say that from the middie of the XVI century, until the middie
of the XIX, sugar production was inconceivabie without siaves, and to be a sugar
miii owner meant to be a slave owner. Moreover, the sugar industry was SO
dependent on black siaves that even the lavradores, who were merely cana
growers and did not own sugar milis but who produced in some instances up to
40%or more of the cana grinded in the engenhos, were obliged to use siaves as
workers in their plantations 23 and depended very much on then for supplying
the factories with the cana needed.
With that great number of engenhos, the Brazilian sugar industry became
the biggest in the wortd by the end of the XVlth century, surpassing by and
larga that of the Portuguesa Atlantic islands and that of the Spanish Caribbean
islands altogether, 24 and flooding the European market with more than
2,000,000 arrobas per year 25 which were distributed from Lisbon, Vienna and
Oporto to Antwerp and Amsterdam, and from these two cities to the rést of
Northern and Central Europa. 26 As the sugar production grew in Brazil, $0 did
the Dutch involvement in its financial and marketing operations. 27 The
Netherlands association with Portuguesa sugar was ari old one, far more older
than the Brazilian engenhos, and we realize this fact when we remenber that as
far back as 1498 Antwerp alone had been already importing 40,000 arrobas per
year from Portugal. 28 Thanks to this association could Brazilian sugar spread ali
over Europa throughout the commercial channels opened up by the Dutch in
previous centuries, and thus could Brazilian sugar compete very favorably with
that of other regions of the Portuguese empire, and of the Spanish possessions
in the Caribbean.
In the long run competition of Brazilian sugar ruined the sugar industry
of Madeira, the Azores and São Tomé, together with that of Hispaniola for ali
these small islands could not produce on an economy of scale and could not
match the Brazilian production costs. The case of Madeira is an illustrative one:
by 1610 this island wasexporting only 109 of what had been its production in
the middleof the XVlth century, and had only 8 mills in operation. 29 The case
of Hispaniola was a similar one for the senores de ingenio from Santo Domingo
had lost their European market as one of the consequences of the Netherlands
Revolution, and in the years 1603 to 1607 their export had álso declined to a
mera 10% of their mid-sixteenth century exports. 30 Madeira madéa steady
effort towards its recuperation as a sugar exportar in the first half of the XVI lth
century, but fali definitively by 1657 when its cane fields were converted into
vineyards, 31 but Hispaniola's sugar industry nevar recuperated again dueto the
aggravation of the economic situation of the isiand after the Dpoblaciones of
1605-1606, 50 that by 1630 sugar exports from Santo Domingo were only a dim
remembrance of good old days. 32
The Netherlands Revolution affected the Brazilian sugar industry too,
although in different ways. Let us remember that the union of the Portuguesa

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252 Sugar in Brazil

and the Spanish Crowns under Philip II changed the so far comfortable
commercial relationships that the Dutch had enjoyed with the Portuguese for
more than a century, for since 1580 it was Pie Portuguesa rather than the
Spaniards who suffered the most severe losses from the plunders that the Dutch
infiicted on the colonial possessions of the Iberian empires. And although most
of the Dutch overseas attacks were concentrated on the spice islands and
territories of Pie Pacific Ocean in the late XVIth century, Brazil soon carne into
their sight as a region to be eventuaily conquered and expioited. 33 But it took
some time before the Dutch interests in Portugal were seriously affected. The
first threat carne in 1585 when Phi[p li ordered a first embargo on Dutch ships
harbored in Portuguese and Spanish ports and issued ordersforthe imprisonment
of their crews. As Pie Dutch-Spanish relations grew worse, the embargoes
followed subsequently in 1590, 1596 and 1599 affecting adversely the capacity
of the Dutch to carry their trade legally with the Portuguese.
Nevertheless, the sugar flow from Portugal and its possessions to Flanders
continued since Antwerp was still a City within a region under Spanish control,
but the growing trade with Amsterdam had to be done through irregular
channeis, one of which consisted in the use of friendly Portuguese businessmen
who lent their names to cover up Dutch financial and commercial operations in
both the Netheriands and the iberian peninsula. 34 It is interesting to note that
not ali of the Brazilian sugar passed through Lisbon on its way to Amsterdam,
for contraband was as frequent as legal commerce. Also, a significant part of the
sugar produced in Brazii was diverted to Madeira or the Azores on its way to
Europe and was registered there as being produced localiy. As the XVllth
century advanced, more and more of the Brazilian sugar was consumed in
Europa after passing through Amsterdam, as it had circulated through Antwerp
in the )(Vtth century. The Netherlands .Bevolution did not affect the ability
of the Dutch to keep and enhance their commerciai networks in Europe, and by
1620 the Brazilian sugar was a common product being bought and soid in the
markets and fairs of France, Engiand, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Boiongne,
Austria, Germany, Monrovia, and beyond.the Baltic Sea. 35
So, sugar from Brazil continued flowing to northern Europe one way or
another, either legally or illegaliy, either carried by Dutch ships or Portuguese
ships, or by German ships of the Hanseatic League, whose owners took advantage
of the prohibitions imposedby Phihp llagainst the Dutch trade, and did not
hesitate in becoming partners of the latter in the shipping ol sugar to northern
Europe. 36 This flow of sugar steadily increased after 1609, when the truca
between Spain and the Netherlands was finaily achieved and trade couid be
reestablished normally. As a result, a new optimism brought new capitais into
Brazil and new sugar milis were constructed, profiting from a new Royal
Provision issued on May 14, 1614, renewing " liberdade para os novos enge-
nhos-trapiche, ou movidos por animais." This Provision was similar to those of
mid-sixteenth century, which were granted when Pie first sugar boom took placa
in Brazil. 37
Unbelievable as it seems, between 1610and 1629 more tinam one hundred
engenhos were created in Brazil, 116 to be more precise; 30 of Piem in the

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Frank Moya Pons 253

South, 34 in lhe Center, and 62 i lhe North. 38 These new factor ies profited
frorn a technoiogical innovation recentiy imported from Peru by a Spanish
priest who taught lhe senhores de engenho how to improve lhe efficiency of
their miiiis by simpiy adding one more roiier to lhe grinder, which until now
consisted of only two horizontal cyiinders, and by piacing ali three into a verti-
cal position to facilitate lhe transfer of animal or hydrauiic power for its
operation. 39 This adaptation lowered lhe costs of grinding lhe cane and made
sugar-making a much more attractive business, so that Brandonio, in his Diálo-
gos das Grandezas do Brasil, written in 1618, declared that "this new rniiling
invention", known as engenhos de palitas, was considered so good that he
thought it wouid soon dispiace ali lhe old cane grinders and would remain as
lhe only one in use. 40 Brandonio proved to be right in his appreciations, for
lhe three vertical rolier muI became lhe standard sugar making machine for lhe
next 200 years untii lhe steam engíne was introduced in lhe Brazilian sugar
industry in 1815, and even after this date, lhe traditionai three rolier miii
continued into use for many more years.
The increased productivity of lhe new milis and lhe growth of lhe
prodüction created a stronger demand for more ships to transport lhe sugar
to Europe. In 1618 Brandonio deciared that lhe sugar exports of lhe three
capitanias of Pernambuco, itamaracá and Paraíba, oniy, occupied between
130 and 140 chips every year, and also said that a determinant factor in these
new developments had been lhe fiscal exemptions and priviieges granted by
lhe Crown for lhe next ten years to lhe sugar pianters who wanted to build new
milis and opened new piantations. 41 According to Boxer, "such were lhe vigor
and persistence with which lhe Dutch expioited these new markets (those of lhe
Portuguesa empire's products), that by 1621 they had secured between haif
and two thirds of lhe carrying-trade between Braziiand Europa, while virtuaiiy
lhe whoie of'the LJnited Provinces goid coinage was minted with goid from
Guinea." 42 By 1629, lhe total number of milis in Portuguese America had
risen to 346, most of which were spread along lhe coastai regions of Brazil,
from São Vicente and Rio de Janeiro to Para(ba and Rio Grande do Norte. 43
it was ali natural, then, that in a period in which lhe Crowns of Portugal
and Spain were united, and during which Spain was at war with lhe Netheriands,
Brazii carne to be seen by lhe Dutch as a iogicai cuimination of their rip-off
carnpaigns against lhe weakest of lhe colonial territories of lhe two iberian
empires, which were those of Portugal in Africa and in lhe Pacific. Spain was
more dreaded than lhe Portuguese by lhe Dutch in America, and besides lhe
smuggiing of sait from lhe Araya Pen(nsuia in lhe northern coast of Venezuela
and some contraband in lhe Spanish Antilles, lhe Dutch did not take lhe war
into lhe Spanish Main, as lhe East india Company did against Portugal's
possessions in Africa and Asia. 44 Portugal Arnerica, as a target of lhe Dutch
imperiaiistic expansion, was pointed out for lhe first time by an ambitious
Antwerper pamphieteer named WUlien Usseiinex, who by 1608 was agitating in
Holiand in favor of lhe creation of a West india Company designed to wrest
from lhe Portuguese lhe sugar colony of Brazii. it was not untii lhe end of lhe
Twelve Vears Troce, in 1621, that this company was &ganized under lhe rnodel

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256 Sugar in Brazll

were disrupted by presence of English corsairs and Zeeland privateers in the

Atlantic who attacked Portuguese ships loaded with the sugar that would serve
to support Portugal's military operations. In less than two years, that is, froru
January 1647 to December 1648, the Portuguese lost some 220 ships, mainly
in the hànds of the Zeelanders. 59 This disruption ot Portugal finances and of
the Brazilian sugar economy by the effects of a war in which the Dutch had an
a?most complete dorninion of the sea, mede possible the long resistance of the
Dutch in Recife, and also made possibie the extension of the war, since the big
profits of the privateers led the Zeelanders to take a hawkish stance at the
West India Comçny in those moments when the King of Portugal and his
Ambassador to the Netherlands were begging for peace at any price and seemed
to be willirig to compromise with a permanent Dutch settlement in Brazil. It
was, however, the stubborn dicision of the Brazilian leaders to fight the Dutch
until the end which eventually decided the course of the war for, as time elapsed,
thé' Portuguese Crown finally realized that there was an opportunity for
expelling the Outch trom Brazil and, at the sarne time, protecting the sugar
Atlantic trade by creating a so called Brazil commercial Cornpany, which was
given the obligation of organizing a convoy system to preserve Portuguese
shipping and navigation from Dutch attacks. It was the Company obligation
to take the sugar cargoes safely to Lisbon and bring to Brazil the necessary
reinforcements to help the combatents to fight the war. As time went by, also,
the international situation evolved in favor of the Portuguese, especially after
1652 when England went to war against the Netherlands. From then on, the
military sittuation ot the Dutch deteriorated $0 fast that in January 1654
they had to capitulate to the Portuguese and were obliged to abandon the lands
they had occupied between 1630 and 1641. 60
The consequences of the Dutch presence in Brazil were many and have
been studied widely. The Dutch deteat enhanced what some cali the sense of a
national identity among the Brazilians of that time. 61 But as far as the sugar
industry is concerned, both the presence of the Dutch and their expulsion
brought very important consequences for although the victorious leader of the
restitution war, Francisco Barreto, offered guarantees and protection to ali the
Dutch and Jewish merchants and traders who desired to remain at Recife and
other parts of Brazil, the truth was that not too many ot them stayed and the
majority left the country taking with them their capitais and commercial skills.
Some returned to the Netherlands, others went to France, and some others
travelled to New Amsterdam, in North America, but a significant group spread
throughout some of the West Indian islands recently wrested from the Spaniards
by the Dutch, the English and the French, like Curaçao, Barbados and Martinique,
and there, especially in Barbados, they provided some capital and technical
know-how to the English planters in order to help them to establish and develop
a new thriving sugar industry in the non-Hispanic Caribbean. 62
In fact, the Dutch had been involved in the establishment of the sugar
industry in Barbados just before the Portuguesa rebellion in Brazil, when Dutch
ships brought to this island good quality sugar canas in exchange for 20 servants
of a Barbadian planter who wanted to enter imo the sugar business. The

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 Frank Moys Pons 257

accounts differ as to from where lhe first modei sugar miii was imported into
Barbados, since one says that it was from Roiiand and other states that it carne
from Pernambuco. But what there is no doubt about, is that some English
planters traveiled to Pernambuco during lhe Dutch occupation to iearn lhe art
of sugar making, and that by 1650, after importing new varieties of cane and
new techniques, lhe Engiish were producing in Barbados more sugar par acre
than lhe Braziiians or lhe Dutch since their crops were being extracted from lhe
isiand's almost virgin soiis. 63 Vet, we do not know how much capital was put
imo Barbados by lhe Dutch. But there are indications that lhe Dutch provided
much of lhe capital lhe Engiish first pianters needed and that "lhe 1 irst sugar
planters got themselves heavily into debt to lhe merchants (principally
Dutchmen) for lhe utensils with which their sugar works were set up." 64 Also,
according to Pares, "The Dutch had at ali times, many advantages. They sailed
their ships more cheaply than lhe English, and much more cheaply than lhe
French. The Dutch merchants and ship captains cornmanded capital more easily
than the English and French, and therefore gave longer credit to lhe planters.
Before 1660, lhe Dutch rather than lhe English ar French, controlled lhe
supply of lhe prime necessity, slaves. In addition, lhe Dutch seem to have been
more willing than lhe English or French merchants to let lhe planters take the
risks and lhe profits of entrepreneurs." 65
In any event, as sugar production in lhe West Indies grew, $0 increased
its competition against Brazilian sugar in Europe, helped by lhe ready
availability of inexpensive Dutch shipping and lower freight rates, which
influenced lhe lowering of lhe prices at a time when, ironically, sugar
consumption was also increasing. In lhe second hall of the XVllth century,
Portugal lost its dominant position as a world sugar supplier and Brazil lost much
of its markets in Europe. "By lhe last quarter of lhe seventeenth century,
Britain, France, and Holland were importing sugar almost exclusively from their
overseas dominions and in lhe process causing great financial loss to lhe
Portuguese and Brazilians. As early as 1670 Brazilian sugar planters were finding
it difficult to dispose of their products. In that year Lisbon merchants accepted
oniy half of lhe 65,000 tons of sugar available from Brazil. As a result prices
piummeted, the usual sources of credit were ciosed, and many sugar growers
faced rum. The extent of lhe crisis may be seen in a royal decree of 1673, which
stated that neither lhe lands, mills, nor siaves of sugar planters could be seized
for debt, a ruling that was reiterated on various occasions for more than a
century. By 1700 sugar exports had falien to 26,000 tons. The figure seldom
rase above that levei before 1820." 66
Of course, these were not the oniy causes of lhe decline of lhe sugar
industry in Brazil in lhe iate XVllth century, for there were other factors which
worked towards that end at lhe turn of lhe century, like lhe deprivation of the
labor force and skiilled workers by lhe sudden rush to lhe gold mines discovered
at lhe northwest of São Paulo, or lhe slow deterioration of lhe rate of
investment in lhe sugar sector. But these internal processes fali outside of lhe
scope of these pages.

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 Sugar ia Brazil
258

FOOTNOTES

Cf. Noel Deerr, The History of Sugar (London, 1949-1950), 1,73-100. and
Manoelito Ornelias, Um Bandeirante da Toscana Pedro Morganti na
Lavoura e na industria Açucareira de São Paulo (550 Paulo, 1967), pp.
3-12.
2 Orneila, Um Bandeirante, pp. 34-35.
3 Cf. Roberto C. £imdnsen, Historia Economica do Brasil (São Paulo, 1962),
pp. 95-96.
4 Cf. Mervyn Ratekin, "The Early Sugar Industry in Espanola", Hispanic
American Historicai Review (February, 1954), XXXIV, 2-19, ànd
Frank Moya Pons, La Espanola en ei Siglo XVI. Trabajo, Sociedad y
Po/itica en Ia Economia dei Oro 1493-1520 (Santiago de los Cabalieros,
1971). pp. 171-206, 243-268.
5 Judging from the engravings and drawings from the Iate XVth and the
XVIth centuries, the use of different types of grinders varied and coexisted
as the sugar industry developed in those years. The single round stone was
registered in one of the famous Theodore de Bry's engravings made in 1595.
The two horizontal and the three vertical rolier grinders were also in use
but, as we will soe below, the Portuguese apparently did not use lhe Iatter
until 1608, although there are indications that it had been invented in the
late XVth century.
6 Cf. Frederic Mauro, Lo Portugal et L'Atiantique ( Paris, 1960), p. 185,
quoting Conde Giulio Landi, La Descrittione de I'Isola de ia Madera
(Plaisance, 1574).
7 Brasil/Açucar. Coleção Canavieira NQ8 (Rio de Janeiro, 1972), p. 32.
8 Ibid. p. 31. See also Raph Davis, The Rise of the Atlantic Economias
(London, 1977), pp. 24-36 for lhe role of the Netherlands, specially
.Antwerp and Amsterdam in the commercialization of sugar and many other
products throughout Europe. A much more tengthy discussion on this
subject has been undertaken by lnmanuel Wallerstein. The Modera World-
Sys tem. Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of 11w European World-
Economy in the Sixteenth Century ( New York, 1976), chaps. 2 and 4.
9 Frederic Mauro, Lo Bresil ou XVC a Ia Fia du XVllle siecle (Paris: 1977),
P.55.
10 Mauro, Le Portugal et L'Atlantique, p. 186, is not sure ot what really
happened in Madeira that could explain this evolution, but a technological
change as well as the increase of land under cultivation may have been
possible.
11 Mauro, Le Portugal, 190, says that in 1578-1579 the price of sugar in
Lisbon was as foliows: 2,400 reales that of Madeira, 1,400 reales that of
Brazil, and unly 660 reales that of São Tomé. The Iatter was, it must be said,
tliat of lhe worst quality. These ditferences in prices can also be explained
by a wide variety of factors including the tax structures of,,each of the three
producing arcas as well as the differentials in labor, production and

Ci. & trõp., Recife. 13(2): 241-263,julidez.. 1985

 Frank Moya Pan, 259

transportation costs. For another discussion on the prices of sugar in this

period, Cf. Deerr, The History of Sugar. II, 524-533.
12 Deerr, The History of Sugar, 1, 102-104. CL also Brasil/Açúcar, pp. 36-37,
apparently following Deerr.
13 Cf. Simonsen, Historia Economica do Brasil, p. 96.
14 Historia do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1963), II. 157.
15 On the massapê sou, soe Alicia P. Canabrava, "A Grande Propriedade Rural",
ed. Sergio Buarque de Holanda, História Geral da Civilizacào Brasileira,
A Época Colonial (São Paulo, 1968), 1, N° 2, p. 202. On the role of the
small rivers in the development of the sugar industry see Caio Prado, Jr.,
The Colonial Back-grounds of Modern Brazil (Berkeley, 1967), p. 456,
n. 19, quoting Gilberto Freyre's chapter "Açucar e Agua" in his Nordeste:
Aspectos da Influência da Cana sobre a Vida e a Paisagem do Nordeste do
Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1937). Freyre is followed also by Aziz N. Ab'Saber,
"Aspectos da Geografia econômica do Brasil", ed. Buarque de Holanda,
Op. Cit., p. 182,
5a In this respect, Gabriel Soares de Souza. Tratado Descriptive do Brasil em
1587 (Rio de Janeiro, 1851), wrote: "E comecemos nas canasda-acucar, cuja
planta levaram a capitania de Ilheus das ilhas da Madeira e de Cabo Verde,
as quais recebi esta terra de maneira em si, que as da maiores e melhores
que nas ilhas e partes donde vieram a ela, e que em numhuna outra parte,
que se saibe, se criam canas de acucar, porque na ilha de Madeira, Cabo
Verde, Sao Tome, Trudente, Canarias, Valencia e na India nao se dao as
canas, se nao regam os canaviais, como as hortas, e se lhes nao estercam as
terras, e na Bahia plantam-se pelos altos e pelos baixos, se se estercar a terra,
nem se regar, e como as canas sao de seis meses, logo acaman, e e forcoso
corta-Ias, para plantar em outra parte, porque se dao compridas como lan-
cas; e na terra baixa nao se faz acucar da primara novidade que preste para
nada, porque acaman as canas e estao tao vicosas, que nao coalha o sumo
delas, se as nao misturam com as canas velhas, e, como sao de quinze meses,
logo fiam novidade as canas de plantas; e as de soca, como sao de ano, logo
se cortam. Na ilha da Madeira e nas mais partes onde se faz acucar, as canas
de planta de dois anos por diante, e a soca de tres anos, e ainda assim sao
canas mui curtas, onde a terra nao da mais de duas novidades. E na Bahia
ha muitos canaviais que ha trinta anos que dao canas; e ordinariamente as
terras baixas nunca cansam, e as altas dao quatro ou cinco novidades e
mais." Cf. Arasil/Açúcar, pp. 47-48.
16 Cf. Bradford E. Burns,A Histõry ofBrazil (New York, 1970), pp. 31,36.
17 Aziz N. Ab'Saber, "O Problema da Máoile-Obra: O Escravo Africano",
ed. Buarque de Holanda, Op. cit., p. 185.
18 Calmon, Historia do Brasil, 11,359
19 Mauro, Le Portugal etL'Atlantique, p . 1195.
20 C. R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1600-1800 (London, 1969).
p. 103.
21 Cf. Mauro, Le Portugal, pp. 147-181, for the XVlth and XVllth centuries.
and Herbert Klein, The Middle Passage (Princeton, 1978), chaps. -2-5

Ci. & Tróp.. Recife, 73(2): 247-263, juL/dez,, 1985

260 Sugar in Brazil

for the XVIII and XIX centuries.

22 Cf. Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the 3/aves (New York, 1946), chaps.
IV-V.
23 Cf. Stuart Schwartz, 'Free Labor in a Slave Economy: The Lavradores de
Cana of Colonial Bahia," ed. Dauril Alden, Colonial Roots of Modern
Biazil (Berkeley, 1973), pp. 171-175.
24 Rolhe E. Poppino, Brazil. The Land ano the People (New York, 1973), p.
120.
25 Simonsen, Historia Económica do Brasil, pp. 113-115.
26 Cf.Wallerstein. TheModern WorldSystem. pp. 132.134.
27 Celso Furtado, The Economic Growth of Brazil. A Survey from Colonial
to Modern Times (Berkeley. 1971), pp. 7-9, quoting Deerr, The History
ofSugar. II, 453.
28 Canabrava, "A Grande Propiedade Rural," p. 204.
29 Mauro, Le Portugal et L'Atlantique, pp. 186-188. See also Deerr, The
Historyof Sugar, 1,101-102.
30 Frank Moya Pons, Historia Colonial de Santo Domingo ( Santiago de los
Caballeros, 1973), pp. 87-88.
31 Mauro, LePortugal. pp. 189190
32 Moya Pons, Historia Colonial, pp. 143-144.
33 Cf. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, pp. 106-120.
34 C. R. Boxer, TheDutch in Brazil 7624-1654 (Oxford, 1957), p. 20.
35 Cf. Frederic Mauro, "A Economia Europeia e o Atlantico Sul nos Séculos
XVII e XVIII (Brasil e Portugal)," Nova Historia e Novo Mundo (São
Paulo, 1969), pp 108-110.
36 Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, p. 21
37 Calmon, Historiado Brasil, II, 359
38 Mauro, Le Portugal etL'Atlantique, p. 195.
39 Frei Vicente do Salvador, Historia do Brasil, 1500-1627, ed. João Capistra-
no de Abreu (São Paulo, 1931), pp. 420ss, as quoted by Mauro, Le Por-
tugal, p. 204, and by others like Calmon, Historia do Brasil, II, 355.
40 José Antonio Gonsalves de Mello, ed., Diálogos das Grandezas do Brasil
(Recife, 1962), pp 86-87.
41 Ibid., p.79.
42 Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. p. 21.
43 Mauro, Le Portugal et L 'Atlantique, p. 195.
44 On lhe activities of lhe Dutch in lhe Caribbean at lhe end aí lhe XVlth
century and at lhe beginning of lhe XVlIth. cf . Engel Sluiter, 'Dutch-
Spanish Rivalry in lhe Caribbean Area, 1594-1609," Hispanic .4merican
Historical Review XXVIII (February, 1948), 165-196, and Cornelis Ch.
Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean (Gainsville, 1971), pp. 1-257.
45 Cf. Hermann Watjen, O Dominio Hollandez no Brasil. Um Capitulo da
Histdria Colonial do Século XVII (São Paulo, 1938). 416ss.
46 A description of lhe Reconcavo and its sugar industry through lhe story of
one of its mills can be found in Wanderley Pinho, História de um Engenho
do Reconcavo, 1552-1944 (Rio de Janeiro, 1946), which contains an

Ci. & Trôp., Recife, 13(2): 247-263,/tiL/dez., 1985

Frank Moya Pons 261

excelient coilection of maps, charts and engravings of Bahia and its;

surrounding sugar districts.
47 Cf, Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 1-39, and Watjen, O Domínio Colonial
Ho/landez, pp. 94ss. Most of lhe information contained in lhe next
pages about lhe Dutch occupation of Brazil has been extracted from
Boxer and Watjen, unless otherwise indicated. Nevertheless, 1 will
keep some relevant footnotes mentioning these sources for obvious
reasons.
48 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 49-158, and Watjen, O Domino Ho//andez,
pp. 96-136
49 Cf. Watjen, Ibid., pp. 415-422 for a most interesting account on how lhe
war affected lhe development of lhe sugar industry in those years.
50 Boxer, The Dutch ir Brazil, p. 60.
51 Cf. Watjen, op. cit., pp. 149-154.
52 (bid., pp. 422423. Cf., also, Boxer, The Dutch in Brazi/, p. 74
53 Watjen, op. cit., 448-474, discusses ai length lhe econornic life of Nova-
Hoilanda in Brazil, as related to lhe sugar industry and lhe very boi issue of
monopoly vs. free trade in which lhe West India Company was involved
against lhe colonists and moradores.
54 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 81 -83.
55 Ibid., pp. 133-134, 138-140, 149-150.
56 Cf. Pinho, Historia de Um Engenho, p. 81
57 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 99-100, quoting lhe instructions for this
negotiation given by Maurits to lhe Dutch commissioners.
58 Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, p. 173. For export figures, see Ibid., p. 148,
- and Simonsen, História Econômica do Brasil, pp. 118-120. Both authors
are very short in their information when compared with lhe exceilent
discussion and tables prepared by Watjen, op. cit., 492-509, where he
shows statiscaIly the evolulion of sugar exports and trade between
Brazil and lhe Netherlands frorn 1629 to 1651, both from the part of
lhe Dutch West India Company, and from lhe free merchants of Per-
nambuco. Oeerr, The History of Sugar, 1,105, 109-110,followsWatjen
in this respect without making extensive use of his data. Judging
from lhe sources 1 have examined for this papar, it seems to me that
Watjen's work has been negIected by lhe historians who have dealt
with this important period of Brazilian history.
59 Boxer, The Ou tch in Brazil, pp. 201-202,

60 Ibid, chaps. VI-Vil, for details on lhe above. Cf.. also, Watjen, op. cit.,
pp. 222-291, for other details.
61 Cf.Burns,A History of Brazil, p.48
62 Cf. Goslinga, The Dutch ir the Caribbean, pp. 333-334.

On lhe establishment of lhe Dutch in the Caribbean after their expulsion

from Brazil and lhe impact of this exodus on lhe Brazilian sugar industry,
see Matthew Edel, "The Brazilian Sugar Cycle of lhe Seventeenth Century

Ci. & TrÓp., Recife, 73(2): 241-263, jul. /dez., 7985

A
 Sugar in Brazil
262

• and the Rise of West Indian Competition," Caribbean Studies, IX, NQ 1

(April, 1969), and Alice P. Canabrava, "A Lavoura Canavieira nas Antilhas
e no Brasil." Anais do lqCongresso de Historia da Bahia, IV (1950).
63 Cf. Arthur Percival Newton, The European Nations ir the West Indies
(New York, 1967), pp. 196-203, and Richard S. Dunn, Sugar and 5/aves.
The Rise of the Planter Class ir Lhe English West índias, 1624-1713 (New
York, 1973), pp. 60-64.
64 Richard Pares, Merchanis ano Planters (New York, 1970), p. 79, n. 61.
65 Ibid., p. 27. See, also, Dunn, op. cit., p. 65.
66 Poppino, op. cit, p. 123.

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