“Lifestyle and Work of Slaves in Brazil vs. Hacienda Laborers in Latin American Countries” The lifestyle and work conditions of slaves in Brazil and those of permanent and temporary laborers in hacienda systems in other Latin American states wasn’t an easy way of life. For the laborers in the hacienda systems, farming and ranching were a way of life. They rented land, worked for their landowners, better known as hacendados, and were even sharecroppers to pay for the land they harvested on. For the slaves in Brazil, they were obligated to work for their slave master. Slaves in Brazil seemed to have a harder life due to the climate changes many of them weren’t used to. Also, many children who were born into slavery didn’t seem to have a great …show more content…
Since peons couldn’t repay them, they were obligated to work for the hacendados to fulfill their debt, “the hacendados are able to keep them permanently under financial obligations and hence to oblige them to remain upon the estates to which they belonged” (Modern History Source Book 1). Similarly, like the slaves in Brazil. Although the slaves in Brazil didn’t have a debt to pay in a monetary amount, they had a debt to work and serve their slave masters’. Like most slave children are born into slavery, “multiple generations were tied to the hacienda,” in order to repay the debt their parents owed (Martin 274). Another similarity that both slaves in Brazil and permanent and temporary laborers had in the hacienda systems was the opportunity to harvest and sell crops. Although for permanent and temporary laborers it was more lenient and easy to sell and harvest their own crops, slaves in Brazil were selected by their slave master and were given the “use of a plot of land to raise coffee or vegetables and were even allowed to sell these crops and keep the proceeds” (Martin 281). Also, haciendas were like little communities that had “churches and general stores, hospitals and schools,” such as the slave community in Brazil (Vourlias 1). For the slaves in Brazil within large plantations they established their own communities. Within these communities, the slaves in Brazil married and established families. Although, some slaves had the possibility of their families being torn apart due to the fact that some slaves could’ve been