Wealth and slave in the São Paulo\'s northeast: city of Batatais, 1851-1887

Author(s)

Juliana Garavazo

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2006-03-17

Examining board members

Jose Flavio Motta; Carlos de Almeida Prado Bacellar; Renato Leite Marcondes

• Advisor: Jose Flavio Motta

Abstract

This research analyzes the economy and slave demography of the city of Batatais (SP) during the second half of the 19th century. The study has, as the main source, the post mortem inventories from 1851 to 1887 and, as secondary sources, the transfer of ownership documents related to slaves - registered between 1861 and 1887 - and the Vote Qualifying List (1874). The work begins with the analysis of the economic and demographic characteristics of Sertão do Rio Pardo and, more specifically, Batatais, from the 18th to the 20th centuries, followed by the analysis of the allocation, accumulation and dynamics of the wealth held by the local inhabitants. At that time, economy was dedicated to cattle and subsistence agriculture and, in the late decades of the 19th century, gave place to the advance of coffee plantation and the shift of slavery work to free work. Hence, this study analyzed the local slaves, concerning demographics and possessions, and observed the main characteristics of the slaves and their owners, related to the changes occurred to the Brazilian slavery. Finally, the structure and demographic characteristics of slave families were analyzed through the information obtained in the inventories and ownership documents, with further investigations of their stability during the division of the inventoried assets (AU)