Sweet And Bitter: The Slave Trade For Coffee In Brazil

Valentina Yu

Social Studies 9

Research Paper

May 18 2015

Sweet and Bitter; The Slave Trade for Coffee in Brazil

To What Extent did the Aspects of the Coffee Industry in Europe and Brazil Affect the Slavery in Brazil during 1750 to 1888?

Who knew that s shrub could make so many people's lives joyful, but so many others full of sorrow. Coffee is a very popular drink that many people choose because of its pleasurable abilities to refresh and energize someone. Although the production of coffee is not so festive and lively, in fact these berries triggered an immense slave trade across the atlantic in which many African slaves were sold in Brazil. Brazil is mostly known because of its greatly fortunate and lucrative coffee industry, but hidden between

Before coffee became popular, people all throughout Europe had either beer or wine for breakfast (Cowan 1-4). Beer and wine were part of people's daily lives, because they were one of the limited drinks that people could have because of the filthyness of the water. Coffee provided a safer choice because it was produced with boiled water, and so the dirtiness of the water would not cause ailments. Also, having coffee for breakfast made a person feel more awakened and more alert, unlike the ones who had alcoholic drinks for breakfast who felt inebriated throughout the day (Standage 135). Coffee created a new platform as it was a non-alcoholic drink which people could have without getting diseases, leading it to become part of the middle-class mens breakfast. A poem by an Anonymous author published in London 1674 described coffee as “that Grave wholesome liquor//That heals the Stomach//makes the Genius quicker,//Relieves the memory, revives the Sad” (Standage 135). This extract from the poem shows a view of a normal person in London viewed coffee, as a drink that enhanced learning. A French writer asserted that “coffee sobers you up instantaneously” (Standage 136). These two writers show through their writing how the belief of coffee being an intoxicated drink was

This can be seen as the amount of coffee arobas (unit of measurement that stands for a 14.7 kg sack) imported increased by 317,872 from 160 arobas in 1692 to 318,032 arobas in 1817, and then 539,000 arobas in 1820 (Bethel 681). As can be seen, the amount of coffee sacks imported increased a lot during the extensive 1692-1817 year period, and then it kept on increasing at a quicker rate for the next three years. Also, in the 1821 to 1830 decade the amount of coffee exports made up 18.4% of the country’s total exports, and in the next decade (1831 to 1840) it had reached up to 43.8% (Bethel 721). By the 1831 decade, coffee exports made up almost half of Brazil’s total exports, showing that it was very prosperous and lucrative, as well as very influential to the country's economy. Coffee productions became the largest in Brazil, which explains the increase on their slave import. In 1825, there were 26,000 slaves imported and in the next three years (1826, 1827, 1828) there were 44,000 slaves imported annually (Knights). By 1850, Brazil was one of the largest coffee producers worldwide, importing to nations like Britain, Scandinavia and the United States (Bethel 624). This can be reflected as in the previous two years the highest amount of slaves were imported, in which 60,000 slaves were imported in 1848, and 54,000 slaves in