Elementos da estrutura de posse de escravos em Lorena no alvorecer do século XIX

Abstract

This work presents some of the basic elements concerning the slaveholding structure in Lorena, São Paulo, at the beginning ofthe nineteenth century. The primary sources were manuscript censuses for 1801, of which four of the eight Companhias de Ordenangas existing in Lorena atthe time were examined. Both slaveholders and slaves were analysed according to a wide range of demographic variables: sex, age brackets, marital status, economic activity, origin, colour and legitimacy condition of slave children. The analysis has taken into consideration a basic characteristic: the size of the slaveholding property. Thus, besides examining the slaveholding structure, we aimed at pointing out the distinctions arising from the fact that the slaves belonged to groups of different sizes. In general terms, we may say that almost all selected demographic variables presented some kind of relation to the size of the slaveholdings. As to the slaveholding structure specifically, we observed that in Lorena it was similar to the ones in other areas in Brazil, as well asto slaveholding structures existing in São Paulo in other points of time: significant presence of women among the slaveholders, high proportion of small slaveholders and an expressive relative weight of the slaves belonging to medium or large slaveholders.