Vassouras, a Brazilian Coffee County, 1850-1900: The Roles of Planter and Slave in a Plantation Society

356 Pages·1986·91.712 MB·English

by  Stanley J. Stein

VASSOURAS

VASSOURAS
A Brazhan Coffee County,
1850-1900
The Roles ofPlanter and Slave
ina Plantation Society
STANLEYJ. STEIN
PRINCETON UNIVERSITYPRESS
Princeton, NewJersey
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, NewJersey 08540
In the United Kingdom:Princeton University Press,
Chichester, West Sussex
New material copyright © 1985 by StanleyJ. Stein
All rights reserved
Harvard University Press edition, 1958
First Princeton Paperback printing, 1985
LCC 85-42659
ISBN 0-691-07694-4 ISBN 0-691-02236-4 (pbk.)
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
and meetthe guidelines for permanence and durability ofthe
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity ofthe
Council on Library Resources
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
by Princeton Academic Press
7 9 10 8 6
TO MY WIFE

PREFACE
THE economic development, population growth, and expanded
trade of western Europe and North America affected Latin
America radically in the nineteenth century. After 1850 the
process of integrating Latin America into the world economy
accelerated under the impact of commercial agriculture, rail-
road construction in limited areas, and new intellectual
currents. The aimof this analysis of plantation economy and
society in Vassouras, a communityof the Parahyba Valley of
south-central Brazil, is to examine at the local levelthe effect
ofthe changing world economy upon Brazilian institutions.
Between 1850-1900 the Parahyba Valley was the scene of
the greatest coffee production in the world. During the pre-
ceding thirty years a primeval forest had been transformed into
a series of expanding settlements which spread up and down
the valley, turning the regioninto large coffee plantations based
upon slave labor. By the 1880’s, however, coffee production
wasfalling offrapidlyin this area, and at the turn ofthe century
the regions of virgin soil north and west of the city of Sao
Paulo far outstripped the production of the wasted lands of
the valley.
Coffee in Brazil has molded past and present social and
economic patterns. The coffee plantation ofthe mid-nineteenth
century was both root and branch ofthe national economy,its
political, economic, and social core. Under the Empire it
shifted the political and economic center from Bahia and
Pernambuco southward,first to the province ofRio, and,later,
under the Republic, to the state ofSdo Paulo. Socially it sired
a new aristocracy, the coffee barons of the Parahyba Valley,
and brought an unprecedented influx of African slaves modi-
fying the ethnic composition of central Brazil and stratifying
society. Finally, the destructive course of coffee cultivation
through the Valley in the past century and the crises of
vu
vill | PREFACE
over-production in the early years of this century stimulated
Brazilians to criticize economic dependence upon onestaple
subject to the vicissitudes of a world market controlled thou-
sands of miles distant from centers of production. In large
measure here are the roots of Brazilian nationalism of the
1890’s and early decades of the twentieth century.
Whenresearch was begun, it was planned to study approx-
imately ten municipios* (municipalities or counties) throughout
the valley. Unfortunately, it proved impossible with limited
time and funds to perform a thorough job ofinterdisciplinary
research in the history of scattered communities via uncata-
logued municipal and notarial archives, not to mention
establishing contact with local informantsofall classes. On the
basis of the Census of 1872, municipal histories and visits to
several areas, the municipio of Vassouras was chosen as
representative.
Emphasis on economic factors was dictated by the nature of
the documentation encountered. Economic data werereadily
accessible in inventories, testaments, and other records.
Regrettably such data cast only indirect light upon social
relationships and political organization. Within this economic
analysis the medium- and large-sized plantations take the
limelight. Undertreatment of the smallholders (sitiantes)
stemmed from the fact that the published and manuscript
sources refer to them infrequently; their contacts with Rio
commission houses were limited, their influence on events of
the town or county, slight. Numerous as they were, the small-
holders were dominated by the medium- and large-sized
planters. After 1850, when the story of Vassouras begins for
purposes of this analysis, they tended to restrict their produc-
tion to subsistence crops. Nor could planter family relations
recelve extensive treatment, for it was difficult to obtain
reliable information on planter families and their inter-
relationships, to weed fancy from fact, to appraise what was too
often wishful reconstruction and to avoid emphasizing one
family unduly.
* The municipio, Brazil’s political and administrative unit at the local level
correspondsin size and function to the county in the United States,
PREFACE ix
After an introductory chapter presenting the pre-1850 back-
ground, a section describes the economic organization and
activity of the plantation from 1850 to 1864—the peak of
Vassouras’ prosperity. A third section shows the pattern of
plantation life, while the last section attempts to analyze the
period ofdecline in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
With emphasis upon change a cardinal objective, constant
citing of events by year and even by month was unavoidable.
Primary sources have been quoted extensively and as literally
as possible to retain the thought pattern and phrasing of the
period.
Source materials came from prefectural and notarial
archives in the town of Vassouras, from interviews with aged
residents of all classes, and from the National Library and
National Archives in Rio de Janeiro. The cartérios or notarial
offices in Brazilian county seats are the richest and perhaps
most neglected repositories for historians, economists, anthro-
pologists, and sociologists. Here are stored records ofpurchases
and sales, mortgages and foreclosures of all property whether
land, harvests, improvements, or slaves, as well as court pro-
ceedings ofcriminal andcivil cases. Next in importanceis the
archive of the Cdmara Municipal or Municipal Council whose
deliberations, resolutions, and correspondence were packaged
by year. Whereverpossible, successive inventories of the same
plantation were utilized to obtain a pattern of growth and
decline ofproperty over the years. Documentary photographs
ofthe Vassouras area supplemented archival and oral sources;
recordings were made of work songs and slavejongos, rhymed
commentaries closely related to work songs, for their comments
on slave society.
This study, based upon eighteen months of research in
Brazil, was made possible by grants from the Woodbury-
Lowery Fund of Harvard University and the Social Science
Research Council, both generously providing sufficient funds
to permit my wife and daughter to accompany me. Clarence
H. Haring, who has guided so many graduate students in
Latin American history, supported the research loyally and
suggested changes in the manuscript. I am also indebted to
x PREFACE
Melville and Frances Herskovits and to Charles Wagley for
guidance and encouragement. The Committee on the Institute
for Brazilian Studies, Vanderbilt University, and the editors of
the HispanicAmerican Historical Review have graciously consented
to the use herein ofmaterial they have published.
To. those hospitable residents of Vassouras, Luciano Alves
Ferreira da Silva, jurist and accomplished storyteller, to the
prefect of Vassouras, José Bento Martins Barboza, to Pedro
Costa of the Cartorio do Primeiro Officio, my thanks for their
cooperation. Raul Fernandes, Edgard Teixeira Leite, Mauricio
and Carlos Lacerda furnished valuableletters ofintroduction.
Josué Montello placed at my disposal many facilities of the
National Library, particularly the use of the microfilm labor-
atory, and Antonio Gaetano Dias provided a place to work
when the National Library was not open to the public. In the
National Archives, Eugenio Vilhena de Moraes aided my work
as he has done for so many researchers. And my thanks to
those informants, mainly former slaves and their descendants,
who patiently answered my innumerable questions.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the insight, patience, and
hard work of my wife, Barbara Hadley Stein. Her training in
Brazilian history and her never failing encouragement made
her my invaluableassistant.
S. J. STEIN
Princeton, NewJersey
July 24, 1957