São Paulo: população, atividades e posse de escravos em vinte e cinco localidades (1777-1829)

Abstract

The study, based on manuscripts known as “Maços da População” which belong to the “Arquivo do Estado de São Paulo”, covers twenty five different communities in São Paulo in the years 1777, 1804 e 1829. The population’s dynamics, the economic activities, the structure of slave ownership and the demographic characteristics of the respective properties were analyzed. A society with rapid population growth, specially among the slave population, was identified, as well as the transition from an economy based on crops grown for subsistence to an economy in which these crops were substituted in some regions, like the Vale do Paraiba and the western region of the state of São Paulo, for others destined for the external markets, such as sugar and coffee.  This transformation profoundly changed the structure of slave ownership and deepened the slavery relationships in the areas covered by the new crops.