SLAVERYÂ IN BRAZIL
In the years of Brazil, as early as 1530 to 1888, the era of slavery was a painful and unforgettable era that will be a part of Brazil forever. During the Atlantic Slave Trade era, Brazil received more African slaves than any other country and it’s estimated that 4.9 million African slaves were brought into Brazil and during this time Slave labor was a big factor in the growth of the Sugar economy in Brazil. Gold and diamond deposits were discovered in Brazil, 1690. This sparked an increase in the importation of African slaves to power this newly profitable mining. During this time slaves were used for finding things like sugar, gold and diamonds for profitable purposes for their masters. Very little freedom was given to the slaves, Slaves suffered a variety of miserable and often fatal diseases due to the Atlantic Slave Trade, and to inhumane living and working conditions. Common symptoms of the enslaved populations include blindness abdominal swelling bowed legs skin lesions and convulsions. The domestic slave trade in the US distributed the African American population throughout the South in a migration that greatly surpassed in volume the Atlantic Slave Trade to North America. The slave owners also did not treat you better if you’re younger, children would also go through the many hardships that others that were enslaved would go through. Infant and child mortality rates were twice as high among slave children as among southern white children. Half of all slave infants died in their first year of life and A major factor to the high child death rate was undernourishment and not being properly taken care of. Children were also not given any clothing until the age of about 5 or 6 years. In Brazil, the slave death rate was so high and the birth rate so low that they could not sustain their population without importations from Africa. Rates of natural decrease ran as high as 5 percent a year. On average, Slaves born in Brazil would only live to their early 20’s and this was mainly because of the large amount of health risks and because some slave owners were very harsh and brutal and some had little to no mercy. It was also cheaper for the slave owners to import fully grown slaves than ones who are younger and a majority of women who were slaves would intentionally abort their children so they wouldn’t have to live the life of someone who is a slave.
RESISTANCE AGAINST SLAVERY
Resistance to slavery in Brazil was in the form of slaves still believing in their own culture and religion. The Brazilian culture is very unique and special, it was very hard for slaves to outwardly express the fact that they believe in their culture and religion, and the ways slaves would protest against slavery and still be intact of their religion were by secretly partaking in the practices of their religion which consisted of many culture things such as food, music and dancing, the food they ate varied immensely a Portuguese stew with origins in Ancient Rome, feijoada has been their national dish, and the way they practiced their religion with dancing was one of the most interesting factors. Known as ‘Samba’, it is one of the most famous things about Brazilian culture, it mainly consists of eccentric outfits and interesting dances, the costumes that they would wear were colorful dresses with feathers and some would wear masks as well. Another way of dancing that was created in Brazil was also a way of fighting, this fighting style is known as Capoeira, like Samba, it still to this day is being practiced in Brazil and other places within the world. The martial art is very unique and different from other martial arts, because it combines dancing with fighting, it can be used to trick an opponent into thinking that you are just dancing but if you know the martial art, you will be able to perform an attack onto them. With their music, this also leads into their other form of dancing known as Samba. A carnival is something that is greatly part of Brazilian culture, it is Carnivals are celebrated in many countries but the one in Brazil is most famous. Different cities of Brazil have their own way of celebrating this week long festival of revelry and fun. However, the most famous carnival is that of Rio De Janeiro. Thousands of people throng the Sambodromo stadium in the city. Often wearing masks and colorful costumes, they dance to the beats of drums and music, Samba being the most prevalent form of dancing here. A major parade with beautifully dressed samba dancers atop a decorated moving vehicle goes through the stadium as hundreds of people keep joining the parade as the parade makes its way. These are the things slaves did, that are part of their culture and even though they had no freedom in the eyes of the slave owners, in reality, they had cultural freedom and religious freedom.
Brazil was one of the last countries to abolish slavery
AFRICAN DIASPORA
One of the most important legacies of the transatlantic slave trade and also of colonial rule in Africa and the Caribbean has been the creation of the modern African diaspora, the dispersal of millions of people of African origin all over the world but especially in Europe and the Americas. The African diaspora was born out of the voluntary and involuntary movement of Africans to various areas of the world since ancient times, but involuntary migration through the trans-Saharan, trans-Atlantic, and Indian Ocean slave trades accounts for most of the black presence outside of Africa today. Although the Trans-Atlantic slave trade brought a majority of the slaves to the United States, many Africans also migrated to the United States voluntarily. Today, many people continue to emigrate from various countries in Africa to the United States. Many Africans have migrated in search of a better life with most of them moving to countries like the United States. From 2000 to 2005 the rate of emigration grew to 440,000 Africans annually which increased the Global African Diaspora population. The largest populations of people descended from those who were forcibly transported from Africa are in Brazil, though not proven in statistics returns, but it may be as high as 90 million, about half of Brazil’s entire population in 2010, in the Caribbean approximately 40 million, the United States another 40 million and many millions more in other countries. This is not surprising as more enslaved Africans, roughly 4 million were taken to Brazil than to any other country. In addition, slavery lasted longer in Brazil than in other countries, not being abolished until 1888.
