A Glimpse into Nineteenth Century Brazil

Esau and Jacob of Joaquim Machado de Assis depict the intense relationship between Pedro and Paul, the twin brothers of the late nineteenth century and the twins symbolize the Brazilian political struggle during the transition from the monarchy to the republic . These brothers were symbolically born in 1870. "At the end of the Paraguay war, Brazilian political elite broke down between conservatives and reformers" (xiii). Brothers quarrel; their most controversial argument is politics.

The Brazilian economy had problems, but in the early nineteenth century it was an era of change. Firstly, the Napoleonic war made the Portuguese royal family escape to the Portuguese colony in 1808, and in the short term became the seat of the Portuguese Empire. In addition, in 1808 the UK persuaded Portugal's open colonies to trade with other countries of the world, and Portugal canceled the manufacturing ban (Strongford Convention). Indeed, during this time the establishment of aristocracy in Portuguese royal family and territory began a number of reforms to develop Brazilian education, culture and economics. By 1814, Portugal and its allies broke the Napoleonic army in the peninsular war after defeating the French Portuguese invasion in 1811. These events opened the way to Brazilian independence on September 7, 1822.

The call for abolition of slavery in Brazil began in the early 19th century. In 1825, Jose Bonifacio Andrada Silva, who led the independence from the Brazilians Portuguese, supported the liberation. Britain, the major trading partner and financial institution in Brazil, forced the problem in 1850 and slave trade was abolished. A small part of the law led to the abolition of official but gradual slavery. That is "freedom of uterine law" in 1871. All the slave children born after the passage of the law were free, the 1885 "Gender Act" released slaves in their 60s and finally announced the comprehensive release law of 1888.

To some extent, the most faithful slavery societies of the 19th century were Brazil and Cuba. It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics, but the number of Cuba is close to 200,000, but Brazil and the US may have about 1 million slaves of similar size around 1810. Brazil imported 2 million slaves in the 19th century, and Cuba has over 600,000 people. At the peak of 1860 there was no large slave population like the United States, as slaves had lived in Brazil and Cuba farm for a short period of time. (This difference in life expectancy has nothing to do with slave handling, on the contrary, Latin American slaves, especially African - born slaves are more likely to die of tropical diseases.)