Economic History Association

Technology and Society: The Impact of Gold Mining on the Institution of Slavery in
Portuguese America
Author(s): A. J. R. Russell-Wood
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 37, No. 1, The Tasks of Economic History
(Mar., 1977), pp. 59-83
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association
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 Technology
and Society:The Impactof Gold
Mining on the Institutionof
Slaveryin PortugueseAmerica
3 HE "golden age" of Brazil was heralded by substantiatedre-
ports in the 1690s of placer gold deposits in the Rio das Velhas
region of the future captaincy of Minas Gerais. In Mato Grosso, strikes
in Cuiaba (1718) were followed by discoveries of alluvial gold in the
River Guapore in 1734. By 1725, discoveries in Goia'salso augured
well. Gold was found in Jacobina and Rio das Contas (Bahia) in the
1700s and in 1727 further strikes were made in Fanado and Araguahi.
Although the initial exploratory impetus was not maintained, new
sites were still being reported from as far afield as Cearat,Sergipe, and
Goias at mid-century.
All of these regions were subject to dramatic fluctuations in produc-
tion. By 1732 the mines of Cuiabai"offered no more than a shadow of
past riches." Goias enjoyed a longer life span, but by 1770 both
captaincies faced irreversible collapses of the mining economy.1 In
1730 the provedor of the royal exchequer lamented the decline of
placer mining in Bahia.2 Even Minas Gerais, which made up 74
percent of total colonial production, did not escape economic crises.
In 1735 the governor of Brazil's richest captaincy was forced by
economic adversity to reform the statutes fixing civil and ecclesiastical
fees; in 1741 pharmaceutical prices were revised downwards because
of the declining economic situation. The town council of Vila Rica
referred to the "greatest poverty" occasioned by lack of discoveries
Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1 (March 1977). Copyright ? The Economic
History Association. All rights reserved.
This article is based on materials in the following Brazilian archives: National Archives, Rio de
Janeiro (hereinafter abbreviated as ANRJ); Municipal Archives, Salvador (AMB); Public Ar-
chives of the State of Bahia, collection of Royal Orders (APB); Public Archives of the State of
Minas Gerais, registers of the Municipal Council of Vila Rica do Ouro Preto (APMCMOP),
registers of the Delegacia Fiscal (APMDF), and registers of the Secretaria do Governo
(APMSG). The names of the following journals have been abbreviated: Hispanic American
Historical Review (HAHR); Revista do Arquivo Piblico Mineiro (RAPM). I would like to express
my thanks to Philip Curtin, Robert Forster, and Ray Kea, who commented on earlier versions of
this paper. The author accepts full responsibility for errors of content or interpretation.
1 Joao PandiACalogeras, As minas do Brasil e sua legislagao (Rio de Janeiro, 1904-5), I, 85,
222.
2 Pedro de Freitas Tavares Pinto's report of 17 June 1730, APB, Vol. 26, doe. 51. On the
desertion of Bahian mining zones for the Diamond District, see APB, Vol. 24, doc. 26; Vol. 29,
doc. 143.
59

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60 Russell-Wood
and the exhaustionof gold deposits.3 Indicationsof declining gold
production, largely ignored by Dom Jodo V (1705-1750),became
unmistakableduring the reign of Dom Jose I (1750-1777).4
The economic, political, demographic,and social repercussionsof
Brazilian gold production were felt throughout the Portuguese-
speakingworld. The volume, commodities,and patternof trade and
the prosperityof the south Atlanticeconomy in the eighteenth cen-
tury were largelydeterminedby the changingdemandsof gold min-
ing in PortugueseAmerica.Slave laborwas the hinge on which the
Luso-Brazilianeconomy turned, and slaveryremainedthe one con-
stant in a colony otherwise characterizedby social mobility. My
purpose is to examine the impact of Braziliangold on slavery, an
institutionwhich took a differentformin the miningareasthan it did
in the plantationeconomies of the Braziliannortheast.
Miningtechnologywas most rudimentarythroughoutthe colonial
period. In 1700 the king informedthe governorof Rio de Janeiroof
the imminent arrival of four mining technocrats. But the crown
refusedto send skilled minersfrom Hungaryor Saxonyfor fear that
their knowledge of Brazilianmines might be put at the service of
hostile powers and encourageinvasion.This policy was lamentedby
Dom Pedro de Almeida, later count of Assumar(governorof Minas
Gerais, 1717-1721),and by the Germanmining engineer von Esch-
wege in the earlynineteenth century.5Because of the lack of techni-
cal guidance,innovationwas virtuallylimited to the developmentof
3 Economic straits during the 1730s and 1740s were illustrated by such comments as
"mizeravel estado destes povos, pella falta de extrapao de ouro" (1735 reforms, APMSG, Vol.
24, fols. 33-44v; \ol. 35, doc. 133) and, in reference to the pharmaceuticalregiment, "feyto em
tempo que se achava nestas terras mais ouro que medicinas; e como no prezente ha tantas como
faltas de cabedaes" (APMSG, Vol. 43, fols. 98v-99); Council to king, 5 July 1741, APB, Vol. 52,
fols. 89-90v. In a letter of 1 March 1749 the Council of Vila Rica asked for royal patience in
collecting the "fifths"in view of the "extrema mizeria e decadencia em que se acha este Pahis
em rezao de naio haverem descubertos." APMCMOP, Vol. 54, fol. 177.
4 For estimates of colonial gold production, see Calogeras, As minas, I, 133-48; Roberto C.

Simonsen, Hist6ria econ6mica do Brasil, 1500-1820, 4th ed. (Sao Paulo, 1962), pp. 283-84;
Vitorino Magalhaes Godinho, "Le Portugal, les flottes du sucre et les flottes de l'or (1670-
1770)," Annales, Economies-Soci6tes-Civilisations, 5 (Apr.-June 1950), especially 190-97;
Charles R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695-1750. Growing Pains of a Colonial Society
(University of California Press, 1969) pp. 57-60, 157, 258-59, and appendices 2 and 3; Wilhelm
L. von Eschwege, Pluto Brasiliensis (Berlin, 1833).
5 Calogeras, As minas, I, 112; Assumar to king, 12 December 1717, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols.
208v-209. In 1729 Dom Joao V granted permission to mining experts Alexandre Pichon and
Estevao Alier to go to Brazil for three years. APB, Vol. 26, docs. 77, 77a. Instructions (1733) to
Martinho de Mendonpa de Pina e Proenga, on assuming acting governorship of Minas Gerais,
urged him to encourage the development of machines to facilitate mining.-Colesam das
noticias dos primeiros descobrimentos das Minas na America, que fez o Dr. Caetano da Costa
Matoco, sendo Ouvidor Geral das do ouro preto de que tomou posse em FevrOde 1749, fols.
102-106; this fascinating document is in the Municipal Library of Sao Paulo.

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 Gold Mining 61
hydraulic machines to increase the availability of water for mining.
Initially placer mines were the major source of gold. Speculators
(faiscadores) panned water courses, using a wooden or metal bateia.
Oscillation of the pan resulted in gold particles sinking because of
their higher specific density, whereas siliceous material was washed
over the shallow sides. Using the same technique were the more
elaborate taboleiros working the whole river bed or grupiaras which
concentrated on banks or adjacent hillsides. Openings into hillsides
were known as catas. Gravel and quartz from such diggings were
carried to the nearest water source for panning, or water was trans-
ported by wooden aqueducts to the cata where the gravel beds could
be worked by hydraulic pressure. The resulting sludge passed
through a series of sluice boxes, each of which retained gold particles,
to a trough where slaves panned the residue. Such enterprises,
known as lavras, called for substantial investment but offered the
highest yield. Lode or vein mining using subterranean tunnels was
also employed, although less frequently.6
By the very nature of the industry, gold production exerted on the
miner and society a series of pressures unknown to the sugar planters
of the northeast. Unlike a plantation, an auriferous region is a wasting
asset; furthermore, higher immediate returns are more likely to be
achieved with greater investment in machinery and labor. The higher
fixed costs, however, force the miner to keep producing if he wants
any profits. Even if these conditions are met, income is less certain for
the miner than the planter. Drought or flooding can halt mining
operations. Collapse of a shaft or an unexpected rock face result in loss
of investment in time, labor, and machinery. Nor is there any guaran-
tee that a given area actually holds rich enough gold deposits to justify
mining. Historically, gold mining has been a high risk enterprise.
These characteristics were present in eighteenth-century Minas
Gerais. Risk notwithstanding, the lure of high profits resulted in a
common tendency to overinvest and overextend financial resources.
The effective working of mines demanded a higher ratio of skilled to
unskilled labor than was needed on a plantation. Slave carpenters,

6 This account
is based on Paul Ferrand, L'or a Minas Geraes (Bresil) (Belo Horizonte, 1913),
I, 21-67; Calogeras, As minas, I, 111-32; Andre Joao Antonil, Cultura e opulencia do Brasil por
suas drogas e .nas.. . , edited with a criticalcommentaryby Andr&eMansuy (Paris, 1968), Part
III, chap. 14. Observations made by John Mawe, Travels in the Interior of Brazil, Particularly in
the Gold and Diamond Districts (London, 1812) and Richard Burton, Explorations of the
Highlands of the Brazil with a Full Account of the Gold and Diamond Mines (London, 1869)
supplement von Eschwege's classic Pluto Brasiliensis. As early as 1719 at least one hydraulic
machine was in operation. APMSG, Vol. 12, fol. 75; RAPM, 1 July-Sept. 1896), 420.

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62 Russell-Wood
masons, or smiths were as expensive as they were essential to the
miner seeking high yields from lavras. The purchasing medium was
the product-gold dust. Unlike the planter, however, who could in
part offset higher costs by demanding more for his product, the miner
was powerless to alter the price of gold: in his case the selling price
was set by the crown. In Minas Gerais the universal practice was to
buy slaves on credit, extending over three to four years, at monthly
interest rates of as much as ten percent. Collateral took the form of
gold dust. Even successful miners lived in debt to Rio de Janeiro
merchants for the purchase of slaves. For the unsuccessful, salvation
lay in flight to the sertdo.7 A measure in 1752 exempting miners from
the legally enforced sale of slaves and tools essential to their liveli-
hood to satisfy creditors' demands proved a palliative rather than a
solution.8 One remedy lay in the greater financial resources and
reserves, higher investment potential, and corresponding decrease in
risk which collaborative efforts could have afforded. For reasons that
are not entirely clear, however, this expedient was rarely practiced.9
Financial pressure on the miner was exacerbated by royal policies
directed to the mining areas. The most oppressive concerned collec-
tion of the royal "fifth"(quinto) on all gold extracted. No less than 12
methods were employed, but all had in common the burden they
placed on the miner. Collections based on the number of bateias in
operation, or in the form of a capitation tax on slaves engaged in
mining, were inflexible. Quotas had to be met, regardless of the
success of a miner's speculation-without consideration, for instance,

7 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 247, 271v-72; Vol. 11, fols. 50v-53, 271v-72. Protests by the council of
Rio de Janeiro that leading buyers conducted all transactions within the customshouse and
enjoyed a virtual monopoly on sales, resulting in higher prices, were rejected by royal advisers
in the interests of the overall trade. APB, Vol. 49, fols. 100-5; Vol. 50, fols. 211-12. In a letter of
7 May 1751 to the king, the Council of Vila Rica provided an insight into prevailing values in the
mining region: ". . . grande numero de escravos que sdo os bens das Minas sendo certo que
muyta parte destes estao devendo os mesmos escravos que possuem, parecendo no exterior rico
o que na realidade he pobre, e vivendo como pobres muytos que na realidade sao ricos.
APMCMOP, Vol. 60, fols. 54v-59v.
8 An alvard (1721), described by the governor as "the most blessed law passed for the mining
areas," ordered that all slaves to be sold to satisfy creditors should be valued and creditors
obliged to accept them at a just price. APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 222v-24; Vol. 5, fols. 61v-62; Vol.
16, fols. 85v-86; Vol. 21, fol. 3; Vol. 23, fols. 96-97; Vol. 44, fols. 102v-3; Vol. 46, doc. 34; Vol.
63, doc. 37. Also APMCMOP, Vol. 7, fol. 15; Vol. 9, fols. 51v-52v. On the law of 19 February
1752, see APMSG, Vol. 35, doc. 178; Vol. 50, fols. 56v-57; APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 50v-51v;
Vol. 32, fols. 165v-66v; Vol. 63, fols. 34, 130-31; Vol. 69, fols. 115v-16. In his "Instruceao para o
governo da capitania de Minas Gerais" (1780), crown judge Jose Joao Teixeira Coelho ques-
tioned the value of this exemption, PIAPM,8 (Jan.-June 1903), 506-8.
9 Some "mining societies" were established. APMSG, Vol. 44, fols. 103-4v. Collaboration
between miners, urged by governor Dom Rodrigo Jose de Meneses (1780), paid off hand-
somely, RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 313.

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 Gold Mining 63
of whether his slaves had run away, died, or fallen sick during the
precedingyear. The establishmentof foundryhouses, to which gold
dust was taken for smelting and the proceeds returnedto the miner
afterremovalof the "fifth",altered the system of taxation;taxes now
varied in proportion to output, but now the miner faced a new
problem. With the transition from a bateia or capitation system of
taxation to one in which taxes were paid at the foundry houses,
creditors began to demand payment in gold on which the "fifth"had
been paid. Justification lay in the fact that debts had been incurred
when an oitava of gold was valued at 1$500 reis in contrast to 1$200
reis under the new system. This policy in effect imposed a 20 percent
surcharge on the miner. Miners also faced delays in processing and
possible attack while travelling to foundry houses. Finally, the differ-
ential between the value of gold circulating in Minas Gerais and
outside the mining regions increased the cost of imports.10
A gamut of fiscal and administrative policies placed further hard-
ship on miners. The king realized that the tools and slaves essential to
mining could constitute a source of revenue. The crown's refusal to
permit industry in Brazil meant that pickaxes, iron, and gunpowder
were imported. In addition to customs dues, such commodities were
subject to dues on entering the mining areas. Fees calculated on
weight or volume, rather than value, were especially heavy on those
commodities needed by miners. Taxes on slaves exported from the
northeast to the mines, gratuities to officials, fees (usually two oitavas
of gold) payable at registers on access routes to Minas Gerais, and the
heavy costs of transporting slaves from port cities to the interior, were
also burdens on the miner.1 The price of a male slave on the sugar
plantation of Sergipe do Conde in the first decade of the eighteenth
century did not exceed 130$000 reis. In Salvador the average man-
umission price for a male slave peaked at about 200$000 reis in the
years 1715-1719. In comparison, in 1711 in Minas Gerais a prime
male slave fetched 300 oitavas. In the 1720s prices ranged between
200$000 reis and 300$000 reis, only to soar to 400$000 reis by 1735. In
the long run such high prices reflected the miners' ability to pay these

10 On the "fifths," see Manoel S. Cardozo, "The Collection of the Fifths in Brazil, 1695-
1709," HAHR, 20 (Aug. 1940), 359-79, and his Alguns subsidies para a hist6ria da cobranpa do
quinto na Capitania de Minas Gerais ate 1735 (Lisbon, 1937). On hardshipsimposed by this tax,
see RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 287-309, 320-24; 10 (Jan.-June 1905), 78-82. Impact of fiscal
change on miners is described in APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 247, 250; Vol. 35, doc. 133; APMCMOP,
Vol. 9, fols. 13v-14; Vol. 60, fols. 54v-59v.
11 On revenues from import taxes, see Myriam Ellis, Contribuikdo ao estudo do abas-
tecimento das areas mineradoras do Brasil no seculo XVIII (Rio de Janeiro, 1961).

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64 Russell-Wood
amountsforthe laborthey needed but, in the shortterm, these prices
could spell ruin for many miners.12 The uncertaintyof the industry
and the high costs of laboraffectedthe natureof the "peculiarinstitu-
tion" in Minas Gerais.
Laborneeds peculiar to mining, together with the incentives af-
forded by gold, created in Minas Gerais in the first half of the
eighteenth centurya society in which the ratioof whites to blacks,of
slavesto freedmen,and of malesto femalesdifferedmarkedlyfromthe
coastal enclaves. In contrast to the northeastwhere an expanding
plantationeconomy had resulted in a gradualincrease in the slave
population, the exploitationof gold was characterizedby an im-
mediate demand for a large number of slaves. Some 2,600 slaves
annuallyentered MinasGeraisin the years 1698-1717,increasingto
3,500-4,000 for the period 1717-1723,and to 5,700-6,000 over the
span 1723-1735.Thistradepeakedin the years1739-1741with annual
importsof 7,360 slaves, taperingoff to 5,900 in the early 1750sand to
4,500 by the end of thatdecade. In the 1760sand 1770sas the "golden
age" drew to a close, importsaveraged4,000 slaves annually.How
manyof the 341,000 slaves entering MinasGeraisbetween 1698 and
1770were employedin miningis unknown.Thereis no suchdoubtas
to the impact of this sudden influx of slaves on the administration,
society, and economy of the region.13
Demographicdata on the period prior to 1776 are scanty and
should be considered merely as estimates. In 1698 there were no
black slaves in Minas Gerais. In 1716-1717slaves declaredfor pay-
ment of the "fifths"totalled 27,909: these increased to 35,094 in
1717-1718, and to 34,939 in 1718-1719. A decrease to 31,500 in
1719-1720was attributedto miners leaving for new discoveries, re-
verse migrationto the coastpromptedby uncertaintyover proposed
fiscal reforms,bureaucraticnegligence, and the failureof mastersto
register slaves. In 1723, 53,000 slaves capable of work were regis-
tered. This population remained stable until 1728. The following
decade saw substantialincreases-96,541 in 1735 and 101,607 in
1738. Numbers declined to 96,010 in 1739 and to 88,286 a decade
later.The firstcensus to distinguishbetween freedmenand slaveswas
12 Antonil, Cultura,
Part I, bk. 3, ch. 9 (especially n.3) and Part III, ch. 7; Stuart B. Schwartz,
"The Manumission of Slaves in Colonial Brazil: Bahia, 1684-1745," HAHR, 54 (Nov. 1974),
628-29; Gomes Freire de Andrada to king, 29 December 1735, APMSG, Vol. 47, fols. 17-18.
13 Estimates based on Mauricio Goulart, Escraviddo aficana no Brasil (Das origens a
extintao do trafico) (Sdo Paulo, 1949), pp. 149-54, 164-66.

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 Gold Mining 65
made in 1786, by which time a more balanced economy based on
agriculture had been established. A total of 174,135 slaves was
recorded in the captaincy.14
A particular demographic feature of Minas Gerais was the intensive
concentration of slaves in small areas. The towns of Vila Rica and Vila
do Carmo and their immediate environs accounted for 50 percent and
more of the total slave population of the captaincy.15 Within these
municipalities the distribution of slaves was irregular. In 1719 some
3,500 slaves (46 percent of the overall slave population) were working
the hillside rich in gold outside Vila Rica known as the Morro de
Paschoal da Silva. In 1737 over 5,000 slaves were concentrated on the
Morro de Santa Ana near Vila do Carmo.16 Large numbers of in-
adequately supervised slaves in close proximity to townships consti-
tuted a threat to the enforcement of law and order and were viewed as

14
On the 1720 decrease, see APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 244v-47v, 287v-88v. The 1723 figure is
based on Council of Vila Rica to king, 22 December 1723, APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 9v-10v. A
"head count" in 1728, for a "voluntary" contribution to royal marriages, placed the slave
population at 52,348. APMSG, Vol. 24, fols. 4-7; APMDF, Vol. 47, fols. 64v-66v. Figures for
1716-20 are based on capitation records (APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 275-76, 280-81, 287v-88v):
allowance must be made for discrepancies in the counting of slaves belonging to clerics. Overall
estimates are based on Goulart, Escraviduo, pp. 139-45. His figure for Sabara in 1723 (9,488)
should be modified upwards and based on the 1720 capitation (8,031) instead of that for 1718
(which reads 5,771 and not 5,721). Ibid., p. 140, n. 28. See also APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 280-81;
Vol. 13, fols. 25v-27, and APMDF, Vol. 44, fols. 13v-15. This brings his estimate of 50,000 more
in line with the 53,000 reported above.
15 Slave Concentrations
1716-17 1717-18 1718-19 1719-20 1728
Vila do Carmo 6,834 10,974 10,937 9,812 17,376
Vila Rica 6,271 7,110 7,708 7,653 11,521
Vila Real 4,905 5,712 5,771 4,902 7,014
Sao Joao 3,051 2,282 2,216 1,868 3,448
Sao Jose 1,393 1,324 1,184 5,419
Vila Nova 3,848 4,347 4,478 4,051 4,791
Principe 3,000 2,096 2,090 1,671 1,934
Pitangui 283 415 359 845
Clerics' slaves 897 (included in overall totals above)

27,909 35,094 34,939 31,500 52,348

Sources: APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 275-76v, 280-81, 287v-88v; Vol. 24, fols. 4-7; APMDF, Vol. 47,
fols. 64v-66v.
In 1743 the two matriculas for the five intendencies recorded respectively: Vila Rica-21,643
and 21,746; Vila do Carmo-25,495 and 24,820; Sabara-22,148 and 22,740; Rio das Mortes-
15,380 and 15,340; Serro Frio-8,009 and 7,513; Sertao-895 (one matricula). Source: RAPM, 2
(July-Sept. 1897), 485.
16
APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 118-19, 130-33v; Vol. 44, fols. 151-56v.

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66 Russell-Wood
breedinggroundsforpossibleslave revolt.Thisfearwascompounded
by a furthercharacteristicof the slavesin MinasGerais-great physi-
cal mobility as they accompaniedtheir mastersor pursued mining
activities as faiscadores. Despite attempts at making such slaves
accountableto the authorities,there was alwaysa largefloatingpopu-
lation in Minas Gerais.
There was also a substantialpopulationof free blacks and free
mulattos. Manumissionsresulted from the ease with which slaves
couldacquiregold dust to buy themselvesout of bondageor fromthe
widespreadpracticeof white minerstakingslaves as concubinesand
grantinga carta de alforriato the concubineand her offspring.17 In
the years 1735-1749,forros accountedfor less than 1.4 percent of
persons of Africanorigin in the captaincy.By 1786forros made up
41.4 percent of such persons and 34 percent of the total population.
This dramaticincrease may have been the result of humanitarian
impulses. Researchhas yet to be done for Minas Gerais on slaves
obtainingtheir freedomby purchase,but declining gold production
placed many minersin the positionwhere returnsfrompanningdid
not offset the cost of upkeep. Manumissionof slaves by purchase
became financiallyexpedient to masters.18
Because much of the earlier demographicdata is based on fiscal
records,moreinformationis availableon blacksand mulattosthanon
white settlers. Perhapsin no other regionof colonialBrazilin the first
half of the eighteenth century did persons of Africanorigin so out-
numberwhites. The racialimbalanceof earlierdecades became less
accentuatedas the centuryprogressedand MinasGeraisbecame less
of a "hardship"areafor colonization.Immigrationto Brazilof families
from Portugaland the Atlanticislandsincreased.The census of 1776
still recorded,however,thatpersonsof Africandescent madeup 77.9
percent of the adult populationof the captaincy(319,769).19
A final demographicfeature attributableto the labor needs of
miningwas the predominantlymale population.For the firstthirdof
the eighteenthcentury,white migrationwas almostexclusivelymale.
Those few fatherswho did have daughtersof marriageableage dis-

17 See the dire predictions of Assumar to the king, 28 November 1719, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols.
238-39.
18 Goulart, Escraviddo, pp. 141-45, 158, 169; Edison Carneiro, Ladinos e crioulos (Estudos
s6bre o negro no Brasil) (Rio de Janeiro, 1964), pp. 22-23.
19 On the demography of Minas Gerais, see Dauril Alden, "The Population of Brazil in the
Late Eighteenth Century: A Preliminary Study," HAHR, 43 (May 1963), 180-83, 188. The 1776
census (published in RAPM, 2 [1897], 511 and Publica96es do Arquivo Nacional, 9 [1909], 73)
recorded 70,664 whites and 249,105 blacks and mulattos.

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 Gold Mining 67
patched them to convents in Portugal or Madeira.20With the decline
in mining, the establishment of a more balanced economy, and great-
er security for potential settlers, the white female population of the
captaincy increased. By 1776 the sex ratio among the white popula-
tion of 1,339 males to one thousand females does not distinguish
Minas Gerais radically from the coastal enclaves. During the early
part of the century, however, male predominance was characteristic
of the black as well as the white populations. Miners' needs for male
slaves may have accentuated the sexual imbalance of the Atlantic
slave trade, generally accepted at two to one in favor of males,
especially during the years of greatest mining production.2' In Sal-
vador drastic increases in the price of male slaves, directly attributa-
ble to mining needs, were not matched by corresponding increases in
the cost of female slaves. Records of slaves entering Minas Gerais
suggest a numerical predominance of males. This is confirmed by the
fiscal records. In 1719 on the heavily mined Morro of Vila Rica, 91
percent of the slave population was male. All but one of the 77 slaves
of Captain Paulo Rodrigues Durdo, a miner in the parish of In-
ficionado, were male. Master of the Field Paschoal da Silva, a power-
ful personality in Vila Rica in 1719, possessed 48 slaves of whom only
two or three were female.22 It appears that miners with limited
capital bought males rather than females; the proportion of females
was larger in the holdings of more prosperous miners. Only with the
census of 1776 are figures available on the sexual composition of the
population. This census did not distinguish between slaves and
freedmen. In the overall population of people of African descent
(249,105), 63.4 percent were male. Within the category of blacks
(pretos) 117,171 or 70.2 percent were male. In contrast, among mulat-
tos (pardos) there was a female majority: 41,317 females, 40,793
males. The 1786 census, the first indicating distinctions based on
pigmentation, sex, and civil status, shows that 58.7 percent (16.4
percent pardos; 42.3 percent pretos) of the colored population
(297,183) was male. Among total slaves (174,135), 66.8 percent were
male. But, with the exception of the single category of black slaves

20 This was a
frequent topic in gubernatorial correspondence. APMSG, Vol. 20, doc. 158;
Vol. 23, fols. 6, 101, 109v-110; Vol. 32, fols. 86v-88, 105.
21 The 1776 census recorded 41,677 males and 28,987 females. Cf. Thales de Azevedo,
Povoanento da Cidade do Salvador, 2nd. ed. (Sao Paulo, 1955), pp. 184-206; Philip D. Curtin,
The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 19, 28, 46.
22 This percentage is based on figures-931 males, 97 females-for that part of the Morro in
the district of Ant6nio Dias. APMDF, Vol. 39, fols. 49v-108v. Cf. Vol. 35, fol. 134 and Vol. 39,
fol. 79v.

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68 Russell-Wood
(106,412 males; 47,347 females), there was a female majority among
persons of African descent (free mulattos-38,808 males, 41,501
females; slave mulattos-9,879 males, 10,497 females; free blacks-
19,441 males, 23,298 females). Free female mulattos comprised the
largest segment (22 percent) of the free population in the captaincy.23
Despite incomplete data, some general conclusions may be drawn
concerning the demography of Minas Gerais. There was a dramatic
increase in the slave population until the late 1730s, after which a
decline in both imports and slave population corresponded approxi-
mately to the declining prosperity of the mining community. In the
early decades the population of Minas Gerais was predominantly
male. The shortage of white women, viewed as the prime cause for
concubinage and social instability in the captaincy, appears to have
been matched by a disproportionately small percentage of black
females. This imbalance was redressed in the course of the century,
and the dramatic increase in the free colored population after mid-
century was noteworthy. More mulattos than blacks gained their
freedom, and among mulattos, females predominated. The demog-
raphy of Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century was determined by
the discovery and exploitation of gold deposits, the special demands
of the industry, and the uniqueness of gold dust as an instrument for
social mobility. As a result, the composition of the slave population
differed from that of the Brazilian littoral.
The ethnic origins of slaves in Minas Gerais were almost as diverse
as in the coastal enclaves, ranging from Amerindians, Chinese, and
occasional Europeans, to a host of African "nations." In the mining
area, however, there was a predominance of slaves from the Bight of
Benin, the so-called Costa da Mina. "Minas"were held to be better
workers, more resilient to disease, and stronger than Angolan slaves.
Such qualities were in demand by planters and miners, but the latter
had the edge because of their ability to afford higher prices and make
payment in gold dust. In 1726 the viceroy reported that Angolan
slaves were reputed to be unsuitable for anything but domestic
labor.24 Miners' demands stimulated the slave trade from the Costa
da Mina to the point that, during the first three decades of the
3 Population figures for 1786, 1805, 1808, and 1821 are published in RAPM, 4 (1899),
294-96.
2' Sabugosa to king, 23 February 1726, APB, Vol. 20, doc. 105a. This was a widely expressed
characterisationof "Minas," see A. J. R. Russell-Wood, Fidalgos and Philanthropists. The Santa
Casa da Miseric6rdia of Bahia, 1550-1755 (University of California Press, 1968), pp. 51, 68;
APB, Vol. 14, doe. 49; APMSG, Vol. 5, fol. 108; Vol. 11, fols. 130-33v; Vol. 29, doe. 3; Antonil,
Cultura, Part I, bk. 1, ch. 9.

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 Gold Mining 69
eighteenth century, imports of "Minas" exceeded Angolans.25 The
records of slaves entering Minas Gerais confirm this general pattern,
with most of the "Minas" going to the areas of greatest mining
intensity. In 1718 in the parish of Guarapiranga there were 1,055
slaves, of whom 432 were "Minas"and only 245 Angolans. On part of
the Morro of Vila Rica a total of 1,028 slaves was recorded in 1719: 598
"Minas" and 248 Angolans. Preferences could depend on an indi-
vidual master's whims or needs, but until the 1730s active miners
tended to favor "Minas."26
The resulting ethnic division was keenly enough felt to deprive
slaves of commonality of purpose, even in the struggle for freedom. In
1725 Dom Jodo V noted that a slave uprising had failed largely
because Angolans and "Minas" could not countenance a member of
the rival "nation"as leader.27 The designations "Angola"and "Mina"
illustrated the European practice of describing slaves either by ethnic
or linguistic generalizations, or by detailing ports of origin, physical
attributes, or acquired skills. Despite imprecision, by their very
variety (some 50 terms) such designations underscored the cultural
heterogeneity of the African slaves. The individuality of their heritage
was consciously preserved in the New World.28 In 1719 Assumar
observed that once slave women gained their cartas de alforria, they
used their newly acquired freedom to set up shops which served as
meeting places for blacks of their "nation." Some black brotherhoods,
whether slave or free, limited membership to those of a common
linguistic or ethnic background. Such ties were strengthened by the
institution of compadrazgo. In the choice of "godfather" and "god-
mother" at baptisms and weddings, slaves preferred participants of
the same "nation." Should such persons have gained distinction in
Africa, or be of respected lineage, they were all the more in de-
mand.29

25 Estimates in Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 205-10 and tables 62, 63. See also Pierre

Verger, Bahia and the West Coast Trade (1549-1851) (Ibadan, 1964) and Flux et reflux de la
traite des negres entre le Golfe de Benin et Bahia de Todos os Santos du XViie au XVIIIe s-ecle
(Paris and the Hague, 1968).
26 APMDF, Vol. 22; Vol. 39, fols. 49v-108v; the term "Mina" is defined in Curtin, Atlantic
Slave Trade, pp. 208-9.
27 APMSG, Vol. 5, fol. 108.
28
On ethnic origins, see APMDF, especially Vols. 19-39. For Bahia, see Carlos B. Ott,
Forma~do e evolupdo ktnica da Cidade do Salvador (Salvador, 1955-1957), I, 53-75 and II,
appendix 3; cf. Frederick P. Bowser, The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 1524-1650 (Stanford
University Press, 1974), pp. 39-44.
29 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 238-39; Vol. 11, fol. 184. On brotherhoods, see A. J. R. Russell-
Wood, "Black and Mulatto Brotherhoods in Colonial Brazil: A Study in Collective Behavior,"
HAHR, 54 (Nov. 1974), especially 579-81.

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70 Russell-Wood
This evidence of African consciousness does not distinguish the
mining areas from the Brazilian littoral. While much research remains
to be done on cultural assimilation in the New World between blacks
of different African origins, two circumstances suggest that such as-
similation may have been less rapidly achieved in Minas Gerais than
in the port cities or plantation societies of Brazil. Gold mining de-
manded slaves at the peak of physical strength, generally regarded as
synonymous with adulthood. Children were not shipped from Angola
in significant numbers in the eighteenth century. Spasmodic refer-
ences suggest that children and infants comprised an even smaller
proportion of slave imports from the Costa da Mina.30This predomi-
nantly adult export pattern was probably a response to mining needs,
especially during the first decades of the century. Secondly, many
slaves whose final destination was Minas Gerais were the linguisti-
cally and culturally distinctive victims of Asante expansion in this
period. Many languages comprising the Kwa-Kru linguistic group (to
which the "Minas"belonged) were unintelligible to persons from that
same linguistic group; nor, as a major language group, were the
Kwa-Kruintelligible to speakers of languages in the Benue-Cross and
Bantu groups.31 Cultural and linguistic barriers to assimilation be-
tween blacks in Portuguese America were unusually strong in Minas
Gerais, and were the product of the peculiar labor needs of gold
mining. In 1719 Assumar observed that most slaves arrived in Minas
Gerais already adults, and that they spoke a variety of languages and
had the utmost difficulty in learning Portuguese. At the sale of a
20-year-old "escravo bugre" in 1736, it was noted that although he
was a "Mina"not even other slaves could understand him.32 The slow
assimilative process between blacks in the mining areas may account
for a more pronounced tendency to marry along ethnic lines. Only
tardily, it seems, did Portuguese gain widespread acceptance in
Minas Gerais as a lingua franca. Only with the passage of time and the
development of a more ethnically balanced slave population (with the
decrease in "Mina" imports) was there greater assimilation between
blacks in Minas Gerais in the course of the century.33
30 Herbert S. Klein, "The Portuguese Slave Trade from Angola in the Eighteenth Century,"
THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY, 32 (Dec. 1972), 903-5. Slaves dispatched by the
customshouse in Salvador from January 1736 to May 1737 numbered: Angolans-6,064 adults,
41 infants; "Minas"-4,528 adults, 3 infants. APB, Vol. 33, docs. 71a, 71b.
31 Daryll Forde, "The Cultural Map of West Africa: Successive Adaptations to Tropical
Forests and Grasslands," Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Ser. 11, Vol. 15
(Apr. 1953), 208-10; Joseph H. Greenberg, The Languages of Africa (Bloomington, 1963), pp.
6-42.
32 APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 231v-32, 234v; APMDF, Vol. 19, fol. 58.
3 Percentage decrease of"Minas" by decades was as follows: 1711-20, 60.2 percent; 1721-30,

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 Gold Mining 71
Whereas the slave family in the plantation society of colonial Brazil
has received extensive treatment, the slave family in mining areas has
been largely ignored. The predominantly narrative nature of
sources precludes quantitative analysis. The following generalizations
are limited to considerations of the slave family in so far as it may have
been affected by mining. Most evident is the low incidence of mar-
riage among slaves (or, for that matter, among the overall population).
This is directly attributable to the demographic composition of Minas
Gerais and to the economic pressures and opportunities of mining. In
the first third of the century, there were hardly any white women and
a shortage of black women. Inter-racial concubinage was the norm.
One result of such miscegenation was a disproportionately large free
mulatto sector in Minas Gerais. Crown measures failed to woo white
miners from slave doxies. Assumar sardonically observed that covet-
ousness and concupiscence were happy bedfellows and that such a
role in no way decreased the value of a female slave. Concubinage
afforded to the female slave greater security than would marriage to a
slave. Moreover, her prospects of manumission were enhanced.
Should a master fail to grant her freedom gratuitously, he could
nevertheless serve as a protector against official harassment in her
vending activities, gold panning, or even prostitution. For the con-
cubine, no less than for the single female slave, gold could spell
freedom.35
Other factors further discouraged slave marriages in the mining
areas. Cost and ecclesiastical red tape militated against the institu-
tion. The creation of an episcopal see at Mariana (1745) did not curb
clerical rapacity. Exorbitant charges were levied for all services,
regardless of the civil status of the participant. Slaves preferred to use
their meager gleanings for Catholic burial rather than sanctified
union; some deposited their gold dust in trust with a storekeeper for
the purchase of freedom. Ecclesiastical requirements for proof that a
slave was single and for other documentation often proved to be
insuperable obstacles. Not until his visit to Vila Rica in 1753, did the
first bishop of Marianagrant to slaves, natives of the parish of Antonio

54.1 percent; 1731-40, 34.2 percent; 1741-50, 29.7 percent; 1751-60, 27.1 percent; 1761-70,
23.5 percent. Source: Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, table 62.
34 Donald Ramos has written a pioneering study, based on the 1804 census in Vila Rica-

"Marriage and the Family in Colonial Vila Rica," HAHR, 55 (May, 1975), 200-25.
35 Russell-Wood, "Colonial Brazil," in David W. Cohen and Jack B. Greene, editors, Neither

Slave nor Free. The Freedman of African Descent in the Slave Societies of the New World (The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), pp. 89-90, 94-96, 111-13; Assumar to king, 28
November 1719, APMSG, Vol. 4, fols. 238-39. In 1747 the attorney of the Miseric6rdia referred
to protected "escravas da sociedade" in blackmarket activities. APMCMOP, Vol. 54, fol. 3.

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72 Russell-Wood
Dias, the right to marry in the parish church or associated churches
without first obtaining a special provisao. Publication of the banns,
permission of the parish priest, and payment of the customary fees for
these services were the only requirements.36
Human and economic factors also militated against slave marriages.
There is evidence to suggest that masters discouraged marriages
between slaves, and especially between slaves and freedmen.
Whereas on plantations marriage had been viewed as a vehicle for
stabilizing male slaves and contributing to an increase in slave hold-
ings, mining dictated a different set of criteria. Spatial mobility was a
characteristic of the industry and single male slaves were preferred.
Slave procreation increased neither the capital holdings of the master
nor his effective labor force because of the unsuitability of child labor
in mining. Loss of productivity by the mother (albeit temporary) and
increased costs of sustenance made slave births financially disadvan-
tageous to the miner. Moreover, instability, insecurity, and mobility
of mining communities discouraged the slaves no less than whites
from forming lasting ties.
A by-blow of this set of circumstances was a high incidence of
children who were technically illegitimate, or were deserted by their
mothers. Prostitution thrived in the mining townships and was en-
couraged by the owners and storekeepers who viewed it as an addi-
tional source of revenue. The upkeep of foundlings, be they white,
black, or mulatto, imposed a heavy financial burden on town councils.
Proposals for establishing a special tax for the creation of a foundling
wheel in the 1790s were suspended, pending royal approval. Concern
that such illegitimate children received no education prompted Dom
JoAoV, in 1721, to propose that each municipality should appoint a
master, whose salary would be paid by the fathers, to teach Latin,
reading, writing, and counting. While promising compliance, the
governor was pessimistic because "they are without exception the
children of black women, and previous experience throughout Brazil
has shown them to be incapable of benefiting from instruction."37
An early commentator on the "peculiar institution" was the acerbic,
brilliant, and outspoken count of Assumar, who never tired of dis-
coursing on the slackness of slavery in Minas Gerais. In 1719 the
governor noted "the unusual liberty which blacks enjoy in this cap-
36 APMDF, Vol. 73, fols. 7v-llv; Ramos, "Marriage," pp. 212-13.
37 Feu de Carvalho, "InstrucVaop6blica. Primeiras aulas e escolas de Minas Gerais, 1721-
1860," RAPM, 24 (1933), 347-48; on foundlings, see APMCMOP, Vol. 12, fols. 42, 118-20, 144,
147v48; Vol. 61.

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 Gold Mining 73
taincy in comparison with the rest of America; there can be no doubt
that the manner in which they live today can not be considered true
slavery but may more appropriately be termed licentious liberty." In
1720 he forbad the traditional coronation of a king and a queen by
blacks in Serro do Frio, observing that "such an act and ceremony was
totally at variance with the meanness of their condition as slaves in
which they must be kept." Assumar held that blacks had been
brought from Africa to mine for gold and should be kept in "subjec-
tion without the slightest liberty." Any deviation constituted a threat
to law and order, impaired the royal revenues, and was an affront to
society.38 His comments may be taken as a point de depart for a study
of slavery in the mining regions.
Gold mining imposed severe physical demands on a slave. Panning
demanded immersion up to the waist in icy streams, while the upper
body was exposed to the heat of the sun. Slaves working in such
conditions were highly susceptible to sun poisoning, with vomiting
and fever chills, followed by acute dysentery, and kidney diseases.
Pleurisy and pneumonia took longer to develop. Intermittent fevers
and malaria were commonplace, the product of panning in stagnant
water diverted from main streams or in river beds dried out after
floods.39 In the early 1730s in the Carlos Marinho mines, the combi-
nation of heat, water, and "corrupted airs" caused 6,000 deaths
among whites and blacks in a few months.40 Accidents and deaths
caused by fall-ins, and pulmonary infections resulting from working in
inadequately ventilated tunnels, were hazards faced by slaves in
subterranean galleries.4' In such conditions, physical deterioration
was rapid and the incidence of slave mortality high. Estimates as to a
slave's useful working life in mining varied. In 1774 the councillors of
Vila do Carmo placed it at ten years; a decade earlier acting governor
Martinho de Mendonpa stated that the miners expected twelve years
work from their slaves. Contemporaries agreed that overwork was the
prime cause of such short working lives. Writing up the narrative of a
journey through Minas Gerais in 1800, Dr. Jose Vieira Couto ob-
served that a miner could expect 50 percent mortality among his
slaves after ten years, and that the survivors were physically in-
adequate for heavy labor. Not only was the working life of the slave in
38 APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 170-71, 282v-84, 288v.
39 von Eschwege, Pluto, Part III, ch. 5; "Memoria hist6rica da capitania de Minas Geraes"
(anon.), RAPM, 2 July-Sept. 1897), 435. The basic medical treatise is Luis Gomes Ferreira's
Erario Mineral (Lisbon, 1735)-see Boxer, Golden Age, pp. 184-87.
40 APMSG, Vol. 55, fols. 146v-48v.
41 Safety regulations of 1726 and 1728 were ineffectual. APMSG, Vol. 27, fols. 26, 45v-46.

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74 Russell-Wood
agriculturelonger, but procreationreplenished the slave holdings
morefrequently.The councillorsof Vila do Carmonoted that miners
workedslaves to the bone and were unableto affordreplacements.42
Such pressurescontributedto the high incidenceof disease among
slaves. The captaincywas blessed with a healthyclimateand plentiful
varietyof game, fish, fruits, and crops. By law, slaves were granted
Sundaysand holy daysfor the cultivationof their own plots, but there
is ampleevidence that mastersworkedtheir slavesin porterageor the
cultivation of smallholdingson such days.43 Masters cut costs by
failing to provide adequate sustenance. Sicknesswas caused by the
sale of rotten porkto slaves afterwhites had refusedto buy it.44 The
effectof maniocmealon slaveswas the subjectof a medicalenquiryin
1733. This resulted in a gubernatorialedict prohibitingthe sale of
fuba, as it was popularlyknown, on two grounds:first, because it
often containedchips from the milling stones; secondly, because no
yeast had been added and it was uncooked, the fubd lay in the
stomachin a congealedmass. Manioccould be lethal unless properly
processed(soakingand shredding,followedby heating)to reduce the
prussicacid content of the roots to safe amounts.When this was not
done, slaves fell victim to lesions of the intestinal tract.45Masters
resortedto two expedientsto cut feeding costs and providethe slave
with the illusion, if not the reality, of greaterresistanceto hardship.
Tobaccowas held to possess curativeproperties,and also to be a food
substitute"becausethere is manya blackwho prefershis tobaccoto
food;whereasfood is availableonly twice a day, a chew of tobaccocan
be madeto lastthe whole day."46Tobaccodid indeed possessstimula-
tive properties,but the same could not be saidfor sugarcane brandy.
The beliefs of the age in its magicalqualitieswere well expressedby
governorDom RodrigoJose de Meneses in 1780:"cachaga. . . is a
beverage of prime importancefor slaves, who spend the whole day
immersedin water, and who, with the aid of cacha~acan resist the
physicalduress, and live healthier and longer lives; experience has
42
Council of Carmo to King, 17 October 1744, RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 289-92; Jose
Vieira Couto, "Memoria sobre as minas da Capitania de Minas Geraes," RAPM, 10 (Jan.-June
1905), 78. The lowest estimate was seven years. Boxer, Golden Age, p. 174.
43 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 234v.
" On food costs, see Antonil, Cultura, Part III, ch. 7; Goulart, Escravidao, pp. 134-36.
Municipal edicts on hygiene were numerous-for example, APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 42,47 and
Vol. 54, fol. 177 inter alia.
45 APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 183v-90v; Vol. 32, fol. 229v; Vol. 33, fols. 5-6, 63-64; Vol. 43, fol.
25v; Vol. 49, fols. 48, 56v-57.
di ... por haver preto q' antes qr uzar do seu fumo q' do comer por ser este duas vezes no
dia e aquelle continue . . .", APMSG, Vol. 59, fols. 60-61.

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 Gold Mining 75
shown that the master who fails to provide his slaves with cachava
suffers a higher incidence of slave mortality, than the master who
encourages and fortifies his slaves in this manner."47
Medical assistance was less readily available for slaves in Minas
Gerais than in the coastal enclaves. Suspicion that friars were in-
volved with contraband gold led the crown (1711) to prohibit their
presence in the mining areas, unless duly authorized. Nor were
religious orders permitted to establish monasteries in Minas Gerais.
The mining regions were thus deprived of the social philanthropy and
medical assistance to all sectors of the community, including slaves,
provided by such orders in the coastal cities. Quack doctors reaped
the benefit of a dearth of trained physicians in Minas Gerais. In 1735
the governor wrote that even the rich died unaided because the only
medical assistance was provided by slave "barbers." Only in 1734 was
a municipal surgeon appointed in Vila Rica. Both he and the munici-
pal doctor were supposed to provide free medical services for the
needy, but they failed to meet their obligations as regarded slaves.48
The establishment of a Santa Casa da Misericordia in 1738 contrib-
uted little to the availability of medical assistance in Vila Rica.
Financial straits prevented this branch from providing the wide-
ranging hospital and medical assistance for slaves made available by
its counterpart in Salvador. Finally, the high prices of medicines,
many of whose ingredients were imported, placed them beyond the
means of many miners. In all cases the slave was the loser.
On balance, slave productivity was not very high in gold mining.
This resulted primarily from the nature of the industry, rather than
from the tendency of slaves to run away, fall sick, or become intoxi-
cated. Water was the key to mining. A variety of seasonal, technical,
and legal factors could affect its availability. Maximum gold produc-
tion and optimum use of slave labor was in the rainy season; provident
miners conserved water for the drier months to keep slaves
employed, albeit less productively. Drought or torrential rains
paralyzed the industry. Excessive water turbulence made panning
impossible, and destroyed dams, aqueducts and hydraulic machines
essential to the lavras. Hardest hit were owners of lavras, who may
have been tempted to overinvest to be eligible for the exemption
from legally enforced sale of tools and slaves enjoyed by miners
47 RAPM, 2 (Apr.-June 1897), 317.
48 Gomes Freire de Andrada to king, 30 August 1735, APMSG, Vol. 46, doc. 54. The
Frenchman Ant6nio Labedrene was the first appointee. APMCMOP, Vol. 28, fols. 137-38; Vol.
33, fols. 53v-54v; Vol. 32, fol. 179; Vol. 107, fols. 257v-58v, 263v-65.

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76 Russell-Wood
possessing 30 or more slaves. Other technical factors also resulted in
underutilization of slave labor. Greatest yield was on the hillsides, but
the construction of lavras demanded heavy financial investment.
Until this was available, slaves were usually employed in underpro-
ductive tasks such as digging gravel out of the hillsides and carrying it
to the nearest water source, or laying out the gravel on the hillside to
dry (when it would be possible to blow away the dust from the heavier
gold), or simply panning where there was water and being content
with diminished returns. Legal disputes over claims also frequently
halted mining. Quarrels between guarda mores and crown judges
over jurisdiction were rife and resulted in production on part of the
Morros of Vila Rica and Sdo Jodo del Rei being brought to a standstill
in 1731.49 Disputed mining concessions, contested water rights, and
refusals to grant access to water could only be finally settled in the
high court in Salvador. Settling of legacies was delayed by "provedors
of the dead and absent" who froze the assets of an estate pending
payment of all debts. Until such legal wrangles had been resolved,
the slave force remained inactive and unproductive.50 In general,
then, the inability of the miners to keep their slaves fully employed
limited the productivity of the work force.
The degree of freedom enjoyed by slaves in Minas Gerais was
determined by different mining practices. On lavras slaves worked in
a prescribed area, and were usually under the direct supervision of a
factor. Every effort was taken to ensure that such slaves had little
freedom of action and few opportunities to acquire gold dust. Should
land be available, slave quarters (senzala) were built near to the lavra.
Strict measures were taken to protect the heavy investment such
slaves represented to the master and to improve slave productivity.
In contrast, the slave faiscador enjoyed great physical freedom and
had the means, opportunity, and motivation to buy his carta de
alforria. One form of agreement between slave and master guaran-
teed delivery to the master every Saturday of a specified amount of
gold dust and exempted him from responsibility for the upkeep of the
slave. In return, the slave enjoyed freedom of action during the week
49 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 224v; Vol. 35, doe. 105.
50 Abuses included the division of otherwise economically viable operations, and the
piecemeal sale of slaves, equipment, and concessions for a fraction of their true value. APMSG,
Vol. 4, fols. 222v-24; APMCMOP, Vol. 7, fols. 59-61v; Vol. 9, fol. 1v; Vol. 37, fols. 48v-50; Vol.
65, fols. 271-72v; APB, Vol. 11, docs. 93, 94. Teixeira Coelho listed the division of mining
properties as one cause of decline, "Instrucoao,- 508-11. A typical case involved Jorge Azere of
Pitangui in 1737. Pending a court ruling, Azere petitioned for access to water denied him by
Felippe de Lacontria, alleging that otherwise 50 to 60 slaves would be idle. APMSG, Vol. 59,
fol. 27.

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 Gold Mining 77
and was free to cultivate his own plot of land on Sundays.51 Slave
faiscadores roamed the mining areas in search of areas to pan and
were a constant threat to law and order. Failing to find suitable
streams, they sometimes resorted to excavating in the streets of the
mining towns or digging out riverbanks, thereby endangering the
foundations of bridges. Slave women also had considerable freedom,
on the pretext of speculating for gold. Unscrupulous masters dis-
patched female slaves to pan for gold, but failed to give them even a
pick. At week's end the master demanded her takings, fully aware
that these had been gained by prostitution rather than panning. A
variant was the legal agreement between master and a female slave
that she would be coartada, namely that she was obliged to pay within
a specified time an amount of gold mutually agreed upon by both
parties, or continue in bondage. Such female slaves roamed the
mining areas, culling gold dust from every possible source.52 Masters
ran high risks in granting such freedom to their slaves: having squan-
dered their takings on drink, food, or women, many fled, rather than
face an irate miner.
Not only did the slave in the mining areas have an unusual degree of
physical freedom as afaisqueiro, but many may have possessed the
technical knowledge to exploit gold mining for their personal advan-
tage. The characterization of the average Portuguese migrant to
Minas Gerais as a person who stopped in a port city only long enough
to buy a horse contained more than an element of truth.53 For the
most part, European migrants did not have any prior experience of
gold mining. This was reflected in the absence of technical innovation
in Minas Gerais and was especially serious insofar as the miners were
unable to exploit the veins fully. In contrast, some "Mina" slaves had
prior knowledge not only of gold mining, but of metallurgy.
"Minas"was a broad designation used by the Portuguese for slaves
acquired on the "Costa da Mina", a vaguely defined area which at its
widest extent ranged from Cape Palmas to the Cameroons, embracing
the Ivory, Gold, and Slave Coasts respectively. Although the Por-
tuguese did purchase some slaves on the Gold Coast, where they paid
10 percent duty to the Dutch at ElMina on all imported trade goods,
the bulk of their trade was on the Bight of Benin in the ports of Grand
51 APMSG, Vol. 44, fols. 106v-07.
52 APMSG, Vol. 35, doe. 110; Vol. 50, fols. 80-82v, 90-96v; Schwartz, "Manumission,"
627-28.
53 In a 1753 report the chancellor of the high court of Bahia noted that prior to the discovery

of gold, migrants had been satisfied to settle as factors or bursars on plantations, or be employed
as cowboys; the exploitation of gold had disrupted this pattern. APB, Vol. 50, fols. 305v, 311.

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78 Russell-Wood
Popo, Jaquim, Apa, and above all at Ouidah where they established a
trading fort in 1721. "Minas" slaves originated from areas where
knowledge of gold mining and metallurgy was highly developed. The
economy of the great Akan states was built on gold, and gold dust was
the internal currency. Shaft mining and alluvial washing were prac-
ticed and the Adansi and Denkyira peoples dug thousands of gold
holes along the banks of the Ofin River and were experienced in
exploiting high and low level gravel terraces. Jean Barbot, the French
agent general who visited the Bight of Benin in the late seventeenth
century, noted three aspects of especial relevance to this study: first,
the richness of the gold deposits, especially in Denkyira; secondly,
the high technical skill of the blacksmiths and goldsmiths; thirdly, the
great dexterity shown in debasing gold by mixing the dust with silver,
copper, or iron filings, a skill Barbot claimed had originally been
taught to the Africans by the Portuguese. The Basari and Tombon
districts, Mion-Sambu to Bimbilla, and Dagbon, the Muslim state
north of the forest area, were major iron mining and smelting regions.
During the first quarter of the eighteenth century, Asante expansion
extended to the western areas of present-day Ghana and to the
eastern part of the Ivory Coast. Other slaves were the victims of an
expanding Oyo empire and originated from Yoruba-speakingregions.
Ife had traditionally been the cradle of metallurgical skills,
exemplified by its highest art form in the casting of bronze by the "lost
wax" method. Within Benin City blacksmiths and bronze casters
lived in special wards and enjoyed certain prerogatives. In the casting
of both bronze and brass great technical control was achieved, show-
ing a highly sophisticated knowledge of the proportions of the con-
stituent metals and of iron, nickel, zinc and tin. Slaves taken on such
expeditions were sold to the Dutch, English, and Portuguese.54
It was precisely such slaves, the "Minas," who were in demand by
Brazilian miners and who predominated in Minas Gerais during the
heyday of gold production. In Minas they were prominent as
goldsmiths and blacksmiths, pursuing these vocations legally. Less
legal was the mixing of tin and copper filings with gold dust, which

54 This account is based on Jean Barbot, Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea

. . . (London, 1746), bk. III, chs. 4, 11, 17, 18, 20; E. L. R. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the
Akan (London, 1951) pp. 198-205; R. S. Rattray, Ashanti (London, 1923), pp. 300-15; Philip J.
C. Dark, An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology (Oxford, 1973). In 1816 the Dutch
governor-general in ElMina observed that the slave trade had contributed to the drastic
reduction in gold diggers. See Ivor Wilks, Asante in the Nineteenth Century. The Structure and
Evolution of a Political Order (Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 679; cf. pp. 244-45,
434-36.

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 Gold Mining 79
they did with great skill, burnishing the final product so that only
assaying could reveal the fraud. It was also alleged that slaves artifi-
cially altered the color of inferior black gold to make it appear more
valuable.55 If Barbot was correct, debasing skill taught by the Por-
tuguese to Africans to defraud English and Dutch rivals was to
backfire on the Portuguese in Brazil. Debased gold was a constant
headache for governors and provedors of the royal mints and smelt-
ing houses. In the history of African contributions to New World
societies, the transfer of such technical skills (however reprehensible
they seemed to the authorities) was a major legacy.
By its nature gold dust is easily concealed. In Minas Gerais it was
rarely necessary to resort to subterfuge because the prevailing
medium of exchange was gold dust. Slaves were permitted to possess
gold dust for their own needs and "so that they may with better will
tolerate the excessive toil to which they are constantly subject."56
This set of circumstances, peculiar to the mining areas, resulted in
more slaves enjoying their freedom in Minas Gerais than in the
plantation societies of Brazil. Manumission and the role of the free
black and mulatto has been described elsewhere. Suffice it to say here
that the number of manumitted slaves appears to have increased from
the 1740s. By 1786forros comprised 34 percent of the population of
the captaincy. Less desirable from the miner's viewpoint was a large
runaway slave population. Factors facilitating flight were: physical
mobility inherent to mining; difficult terrain; inadequate human and
financial resources for effective patrolling; ease of concealment,
whether in the countryside in old mining holes or in the townships
where irregular topography and houses with doors opening onto
adjacent streets provided ideal bolt holes; difficulty of identifying a
runaway from among a predominantly black population engaged in a
variety of legal activities such as carrying wood, clearing scrub, or
getting forage; and finally, the spasmodic pattern of settlement in a
mining zone, which resulted in substantial tracts being virtually un-
populated. To these factors should be added the avarice of white store
and tavern keepers who received payment in gold dust for aiding and
harboring runaway slaves and for supplying quilombos (communities
of runaway slaves) with foodstuffs, drink, mining tools, clothing,
hides, and powder and shot.57
55 APMSG, Vol. 20, doc. 45; Vol. 77, does. 139, 140; APMCMOP, Vol. 56, fol. 37; Vol. 65,
fols. 46v-52v; Vol. 81, fols. 213v-15; APB, Vol. 32, does. 102, 102a, 102b; Vol. 66, fols. 269-70.
56 APMCMOP, Vol. 9, fols. 25-26.
57 Conflicting interests of miners and storekeepers produced heated and divisive debate.
APMCMOP, Vol. 6, fols. 31v-32v; Vol. 63, fols. 166v-69, 171v-76; Vol. 65, fols. 239v-45v.

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80 Russell-Wood
Throughout the colonial period in Minas Gerais, quilombos were a
constant preoccupation. There were so many of them that no town-
ship or community could feel secure. Their size and permanency was
unusual, even by Brazilian standards. The quilombo in Campo
Grande, known as the quilombo of Ambrosio, numbered some six
hundred blacks in 1746. In that year it had already been in existence
for 20 years. In 1766 a report from Paracatuinoted the presence of a
quilombo since the first discoveries and colonization of that region in
the early 1740s. Permanency was indicated by buildings, defenses,
and crops of corn, beans, watermelons, and cotton. Ironically, it may
well have been that the quilombos provided an ambience more con-
ducive to stability and permanent relationships between slaves than
did the hectic mining environment. Finally, organization and a social
hierarchy was evidenced by the titles of king, queen, princes, and
ranks borrowed from the militia companies.58
The presence of large groups of runaway slaves, the circumstance of
a black majority, the geographic location of Minas Gerais far from
potential military assistance, and the pressure of mining, combined to
imbue life in Minas Gerais with insecurity, tension, and stress which
verged on paranoia. This was especially marked during the earlier
decades of the eighteenth century and revealed itself in two forms:
omnipresent fear of slave revolt; and excessive local legislation. The
threat posed by quilombos was real. Armed attacks on homesteads,
rape, murder, and arson were frequent. More serious was the
stranglehold they often achieved on the supply of foodstuffs by divert -
ing, destroying or ambushing incoming convoys. Their greatest im -
pact, however, was psychological. Urban disturbances, groupings of
drunken slaves on the Morros, and isolated attacks on white travel-
lers brought forth dire predictions of "revolts" from governors and
citizens alike. In reality, only in 1719 and 1756 do there appear to
have been planned uprisings which might have qualified as revolts,
but in both cases they were aborted.59 Hyperbole characterized
Assumar's assessment that the 1719 debacle was the greatest threat
that Portuguese America had ever experienced. He was perceptive
enough to note that the greatest danger lay not in the physical threat
posed by slaves, but rather in the resulting panic among whites whose
58 APMSG, Vol. 15, fols. 109v-110; Vol. 60, fols. 110v-14v, 118v-19v; Vol. 84, fols. 109v-11.

Definitions of a quilombo depended on numbers and permanency. APMSG, Vol. 2, fols.

108v-110; Vol. 59, fol. 102; APMCMOP, Vol. 43, fols. 83v-86v. For a survey, see Waldemar de
Almeida Barbosa, Negros e quilombos em Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, 1972).
59 Both were planned for Maundy Thursday: 1719-APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 117v-127, 130-
33v, 170-71; 1756-APMCMOP, Vol. 65, fols. 236v-43.

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 Gold Mining 81
fear at the slightest shadow could escalate into total civil disorder: "a
single spark could ignite a holocaust."60
Reaction by the white population, which was so regular as to
constitute almost a ritual catharsis, took two forms: direct action and
legislation. Feelings on the part of white colonists and governors that
things were getting out of hand often resulted in flurries of activity,
mobilization of militia companies, alerting of "bushwhacking cap-
tains," and attacks on quilombos. Such measures were more
therapeutic than effective, as evidenced by attacks, each involving
four hundred men, on quilombos in the Campo Grande in 1747 and
again in 1759.61 Legislation imposed curfews on slaves, limited their
physical mobility by "passports,"prohibited the carrying of sidearms
and firearms by slaves, forbad congregation of blacks, restricted the
choice of godparents to whites, and threatened harsh penalties for
infringement of these regulations. Although, on the whole, punish-
ments for slaves were not inconsistent with general colonial practice,
the inhumane proposal that the Achilles tendon of runaways should
be severed (mercifully not adopted) is indicative of the more drastic
remedies proposed.62 Such legislation was no more effective than
direct action had been, but it seems to have served the purpose of
reassuring the white populace that their destiny lay in their own
hands. Nevertheless, at no time did the white colonists of Minas
Gerais lapse into complacency; reference to Palmares was enough to
galvanize them into action.
These circumstances bred a different relationship between a miner
and his slaves than that prevailing in a plantation society and
economy. Except on the lavras, the relationship between master and
slave was likely to be more personal than on the plantations.
Moreover, the dependence of a miner on his slave was so great that
60 APMSG,
Vol. 4, fols. 209v-10v, 214v-15, 218-19v, 238-39. One outcome of this fear was
negrophobia embracing blacks and mulattos, slaves and freedmen. Typologies of slave resis-
tance are discussed in George M. Frederickson and Christopher Lasch, "Resistance to Slavery,"
Civil War History, 13 (Dec. 1967), 315-29. Comparison of "plots" and areas with black
majorities in the English colonies would be rewarding, vide Richard C. Wade, "The Vesey Plot:
A Reconsideration," The Journal of Southern History, 30 (May 1964), 143-61; Peter H. Wood,
Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion
(New York, 1974). I am indebted to Willie Lee Rose, Roger Ekirch, and Daniel Littlefield for
much illuminating discussion on this theme.
61 APMSG, Vol. 50, fols. 43-44, 79, 82v-83; Vol. 84, fols. 108v-111; ANRJ, Codex 952, Vol.

33, fol. 390.

62 This measure had been suggested to Assumar by the French colonial precedent. APMSG,
Vol. 11, fols. 130-33v, 170-71. Royal approval for the creation of a judicial junta in 1731, with
authority to pass sentence of death on blacks, mulattos, and carij6s, represented the extension
to Minas Gerais of a privilege already granted to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Pernambuco.
APMSG, Vol. 1, fols. 70v-78v; Vol. 2, fol. 125; RAPM, 2 (Jan.-June 1904), 347-48.

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82 Russell-Wood
by his behavior a slave could literally make or break his master.
Municipal legislation placed full responsibilityon the master for
misdemeanorsor criminal acts committed by slaves. Slaves were
jailed pendingpaymentof fines in gold dust. Well awareof a master's
impecuniosity,some slavescommittedcrimes, allowingthemselvesto
be caught and auctioned off to meet the costs of a fine, in order to
settle a grudge against a former master and ensure a change of
owners. A variantwas the legal expedient of denunciation. Slaves
earnedtheir freedomin returnfor denouncingmasterswho failed to
pay the "fifths."Abuse by slaves resulted in the king waiving this
practicein 1750.63Furthermore,many masterswere dependent on
their slavesfor a technicalknowledgeof miningand a regularincome
from the daily takings.It shouldalso be rememberedthat possession
of a certainnumberof slaves could makea mastereligible for mining
concessions and access to water rights, while exempting him from
foreclosurefor debt.
A result of this dependence, and the high financialinvestment
representedby a slave, was that mastersin the mining areas were
unusuallytolerant of slaves' misdemeanors.In 1721 Assumarnoted
that "theseAmericansregardtheir blacksas demigods."64 This regard
undermined effective law enforcement. Despite edicts prohibiting
the carryingof arms by slaves, masterscommonlypermitted this.65
Runawayslaves were not brought to justice because masters made
individual financial arrangementswith "bushwhackingcaptains,"
ratherthan meet jail costs and legal delays that would prevent the
slave fromproducing.66 Almeidaobservedthat manyof the problems
in MinasGeraiswere born of the excessivetrustplacedin their slaves
by whites.67He noted that a masterwould even sufferphysicalabuse
from a slave in silence, rather than lose his labor by legal action.
Mastersregularlyprotectedtheir slavesfrom the bringingof charges
which might result in impositionof the death penalty. This tolerance

63 APMSG, Vol. 1, fols. 181v-82v, 191v-92v; Vol. 5, fols. 180v-83; Vol. 10, fols. 74b, 79; Vol.

37, fols. 48-49v; APMCMOP, Vol. 33, fols. 26-27v; APB, Vol. 47, fols. 130-35.
64 .. . estes Americanos reputao os seus negros por semiDeoses.. . .", APMSG, Vol. 13, fol.
13.
6 APMSG, Vol. 4, fol. 204; Vol. 11, fols. 279-80, 282v-84; Vol. 27, fols. 14v-15; APMCMOP,
Vol. 6, fols. 53v-54.
66 APMSG, Vol. 2, fols. 108v-10; Vol. 21, fol. 93; Vol. 50, fols. 80-82v. In 1783 the Council of
Marianaprotested to the queen that fees for "bushwhacking captains" established in 1722 were
now out of keeping with economic reality, the cost of redeeming a slave exceeding his value.
APMSG, Vol. 19, docs. 99,119.
67 -. . . porq' he sem duvida q' nada desperta tanto a confianga dos negros como a q' delles
fazem os homens brancos," APMSG, Vol. 11, fols. 130-33v.

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 Gold Mining 83
was especially marked in poorer miners, who could ill afford the loss
of a single slave.68
From the foregoing it has been seen that gold, mining technology,
and the society and economy of the gold bearing regions of Brazil had
a major impact on all aspects of slavery, ranging from purchasing
practices in West Africa to the relationship between master and slave
in Brazil. Certainly, this impact was more complex and far-reaching
than has usually been depicted. Slavery-one of the oldest and most
constant of New World institutions-was not merely a plantation
phenomenon, and we need to bear in mind that generalizations about
slave life drawn from the plantation setting are unlikely to be true for
different economies such as the one that existed in the gold mining
regions of Brazil.
A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD, The Johns Hopkins University
68 Assumar proposed that masters be reimbursed
from a communal fund. APMSG, Vol. 4,
fols. 214v-15; cf. Vol. 4, fols. 218-19v, 227v; Vol. 11, fols. 118-22v.

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