Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T16:06:19.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rio Grande do sul in the Portuguese Empire: The Formative Years, 1777-1808

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Rudy Bauss
Rudy Bauss*
Affiliation:
Urca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This analysis and survey of economic activities in Rio Grande do Sul aim to shed new light on the crucial importance of the southernmost captaincy to overall Brazilian development at the close of the colonial period. Rio Grande do Sul was unique in economic growth, compared to the Center-South, Northeast and North, because the extreme South produced for a variety of markets: the internal Brazilian, the internal Portuguese, the Portuguese reexport to Europe and the Rio de Janeiro reexport to Angola. This market diversification made Rio Grande do Sul less dependent on the commercial vagaries of any particular geographical area. The focus of this article is the importance of economic growth in Rio Grande do Sul prior to 1808.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , April 1983 , pp. 519 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1983 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 de Magalhães, Manoel Antonio, “Almanak da villa de Pôrto Alegre com reflexões sobre o estado da capitania do Rio Grande do Sul,” Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (hereafter cited as RIHGB), 30 (1867), 71.Google Scholar

2 Gonçalves Chaves, Antonio José, “Memórias econômico-politicas sôbre a administração pública do Brasil,” Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Rio Grande do Sul (hereafter cited as RIHGRGS), 2 (1922), 77–185 Google Scholar; “Correspondência dos vice-reis do Brasil dirigida acorte de Portugal de 1763 a 1808,” Arquivo Nacional, de Janeiro, Rio, Seção Histórica (hereafter cited as AN/SH), codice 68, Vols. 1–21, passim Google Scholar; “Balanças gerais do comércio do reyno de Portugal com os seus domínios e nações estrangeiras,” 1796–1805, Biblioteca Nacional, de Janeiro, Rio, Seção dos Manuscritos (hereafter cited as BN/SM), 1–6, 4, 8–26, passim Google Scholar; “Mapa geral de importação que fez Portugal, feitorias da costa de Africa e portos do Brasil sôbre a Bahia em dez anos de 1798 à 1807,” BN/SM, 1-17, 12,4, doc. 2.

3 Poppino, Rollie E., “The Cattle Industry in Colonial Brazil,” Mid-America, 31, no. 4 (October, 1949), 240.Google Scholar

4 Alden, Dauril, Royal Government in Colonial Brazil with Special Reference to the Administration of the Marquis of Lavradia, 1769–1779 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968), pp. 83–275.Google Scholar

5 Rodrigues, José Honorio, Brazil and Africa, trans, by Mazzara, Richard A. and Hillman, Sam (Berkeley, 1965), p. 27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 dos Santos, Corcino Medeiros, “O Rio de Janeiro como base de apoio logístico à campanha do Rio Grande do Sul,” Revista Militar Brasileira, 115, no. 1 (January, 1979), 43–51.Google Scholar

7 Dom Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, n.p., n.d., “Discurso pronunciado perante a junta de ministros… de Portugal e dominios ultramarinos principalmente o Brasil,” BN/ SM, 1–29, 13, 16.

8 Alden, , Royal Government, pp. 72–80.Google Scholar

9 Mapa geográfico do Rio Grande do Sul…, n.p., n.d., BN/SM, “Correspondência do Rio Grande do Sul… 1779–1790,” 1–9, 4, 10, fol. 106; Mapa geral de população… de 1807, n.p., n.d., AN/SH, “Estatísticas de cidades… 1790–1865,” codice 808, Vol. 3, fol. 147.

10 There were 5,102 slaves in a population of 17,923 people (plus 2,000 soldiers) in 1780 and 13,469 chattels in the total number of inhabitants in 1807. Mapa geográfico do Rio Grande (1780), Pôrto Alegre, October 7,1780, BN/SM, “Correspondência do Rio Grande do Sul,” 1–9,4,9, fol. 106; Mapa geral de população do Rio Grande … no ano de 1807, Paulo José de Sousa Gama, n.p., n.d., AN/SM, “Estatísticas de cidades… 1790–1865,” codice 808, Vol. 3, fol. 147.

11 Morton, F.W.O., “The Conservative Revolution of Independence: Economy, Society and Politics in Bahia, 1790–1840,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University, 1974), pp. 35–36.Google Scholar

12 José Pereira de Brito to the Crown, de Janeiro, Rio, January 12, 1782, AN/SH, “Correspondência dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 5, fols. 286–2871; wheat flour entered after 1777, “Balanças gerais do comércio,” BN/SM, 1-6, 4, 6, passim.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., 1–6, 4, 6–26, passim. Data compiled by author.

14 Love, Joseph L., Rio Grande do Sul and Brazilian Regionalism, 1882-1930 (Stanford, California, 1971), p. 10.Google Scholar

15 Balanças gerais do comércio,” BN/SM, 1–6,4, 7 and 8,10,12,16,20,22,24,26,passim; Bandeira, Rafael Pinto to the Crown, Rio Grande do São Pedro. January 14, 1794, “Correspondência de varias authoridades,” RIHGB, 105 (1902), 265–268 Google Scholar; Chaves, , “Memórias econômico-políticas,” RIHGRGS, 2 (1922), 92–93 and 108–114.Google Scholar

16 Regional Share of Average Annual Empire Exports to Portugal, 1796–1805, Bauss, Rudy, “Rio de Janeiro: The Rise of Late Colonial Brazil’s Dominant Emporium, 1777–1808,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Tulane University, 1977), appendix 33.Google Scholar

17 Ibid.; Composition of Average Annual Empire Exports to Portugal, 1796–1805, ibid., appendix 34.

18 Mapa das produções dos trigos que houve são neste presente ano, n.p., June 30,1787, AN/SH, “Correspondência dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 3, fol. 26.

19 Balanças gerais do comércio,” BN/SM, 1–6, 4, 6 and 7, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 23, 25, passim.

20 Seventy-six percent came from Lisbon, twenty-two percent from Madeira and the Azores Islands and two percent from Oporto. José Pereira de Brito to the Crown, de Janeiro, Rio, January 12, 1782, AN/SH, “Correspondência dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 5, fols. 286–287.Google Scholar

21 Alden, , Royal Government, pp. 362–364.Google Scholar

22 Carmo, Antônio Gomes, O problema nacional do producção do trigo (Rio de Janeiro, 1911), pp. 20–22.Google Scholar Wheat production declined to insignificant levels by 1822 because rust devastated the crop. At the same time American shippers sold considerable quantities at lower prices than Rio Grande do Sul producers. Leitman, Spencer L., “O primeiro ciclo Brasileiro de trigo e a guerra dos Farrapos,” RIHGB, 307 (April, 1975), 67–72.Google Scholar

23 Viceroy Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa to the Crown, de Janeiro, Rio, January 12, 1788, AN/SH, “Vice reinado: Alfandega de Rio de Janeiro, 1725–1806,” caixa 495, pacote 3 (avulsos)Google Scholar; Carmo, , O problema nacional, p. 22.Google Scholar

24 “Memórias públicas e econômicas da cidade de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro… dos anos de 1779 até o de 1789,” RIHGB, XLVII, pt. 1 (1884), 27-29; “Resumo total da população que existia no ano de 1799… desta cidade do Rio de Janeiro, ibid., XXXI, pt. 2 (1858), 238–239; da Rosa, Francisco Ferreira, Rio de Janeiro: notícia histórico e descritiva da capital do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1924), p. 196 Google Scholar; “Mapa da enumeração da gente e povo desta capitania da Bahia…,” Salvador, December 5, 1780, Anais da Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (hereafter cited as ABNRJ), XXXII (1914), 480; Morton, , “The Conservative Revolution of Independence,” p. 40 Google Scholar; Idea da população da capitania de Pernambuco… desde o ano de 1774 por governador José Cezas de Menezes (Rio de Janeiro, 1924), p. 110; Koster, Henry, Travels in Brazil, 2 vols. (London, 1817), I, 13 Google Scholar; Alden, Dauril, “The Population of Brazil in the Late Eighteenth Century: A Preliminary Survey,” Hispanic American Historical Review (hereafter cited as HAHR), 43, no. 2 (May, 1963), 173–205.Google Scholar

25 Bauss, , “Rio de Janeiro… 1777–1808,” pp. 228–234 and 350–352.Google Scholar

26 Mapa dos animaes que entrarào do continente do sul pela esta capitania de São Paulo… desde 1 de julho até 31 de dezembro 1801, AN/SH, “Correspondência de São Paulo com o vice-rei do Brasil, 1769–1807,” codice 111, fol. 128.

27 Morton, , “The Conservative Revolution of Independence,” pp. 32–35.Google Scholar

28 Ibid.

29 de Azevedo, Thales, Povoamento da cidade do Salvador (Salvador, 1969), p. 239.Google Scholar

30 “Mapa da importação… sôbre a Bahia em todo o ano de 1798,” BN/SM, 1–17, 12, 3, doc. 4; ibid., “,… 1799 e 1800,” docs. 7 and 10. Bahia also imported significant amounts of manioc from Santa Catarina Island and the adjacent mainland areas in southern Brazil.

31 The population of Salvador and the Recóncavo totaled approximately 160,000 people in 1780. Allowing for a one percent growth rate in population per year, the population in these areas would have been about 192,000 people in 1800. Dividing the total number of imported arrobas of meat by 192,000 yields the per capita consumption of imported dried meat. “Mapa da enumeração da gentee povo desta capitania da Bahia,…” Salvador, December 5, 1780, ABNRJ, XXXII (1914), 480.

32 Ellis, Myriam, O monopôlio do sal no estado do Brasil, 1631–1801 (São Paulo, 1951), p. 178.Google Scholar

33 “Mapa geral de importação e exportação da Bahia do ano de 1810 e o movimento do pôrto desde 1798,” Museu Imperial, Petrópolis, Brazil, Arquivo Histórico, I-POB-Bahia.

34 Santos Vilhena, Luis dos, Cartas de Vilhena (noticias soteropolitanas e brasílicas), 2 vols. (Bahia, 1922), I, 50 Google Scholar; “Mapa de exportação da Bahia… em 1798,” BN/SM, 1&17,12, 3, doc. 5; ibid., “,… 1799 e 1800,” docs. 8 and 11.

35 “Dados estatísticos sobre a capitanía de Santa Catharina, …,” Jode Miranda Ribeiro, ão Alberto, Desterro (present day Florianópolis), November 17, 1797, BN/SM, 11–35, 30, 3, doc. 17.Google Scholar

36 “Balanção e exportação da capitania de Rio Grande do Sul no ano de 1805,” Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro (hereafter cited as IHGB), lata 8, doc. 29; Paulo José da Silva Gama to Visconde D'Andia, Pôrto Alegre, September 25, 1806, IHGB/Arquivo do Conselho Ultramarino, “Manuscritos relativos a história do Brasil,” 1. 2. 19., fols. 288–291.

37 Relação de fazendas e gêneros que se despacharam pelas mesas da abertura e balança desta cidade do de Janeiro, Rio, AN/ SH, “Correspondencia dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 15, fols. 258-v-259 and Vol. 18, fol. 160v.Google Scholar

38 The quantities of exports from Rio Grande do Sul are available for the period from 1805 to 1822. The monetary value of these products is only given from 1816 to 1822. Chaves, , “Memórias econômico-políticas,” RIHGRGS, 2 (1922), 92–140.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., 140; Magalhães, , “Almanak,” RIHGB. 30 (1867), 49–50.Google Scholar

40 de Souza, José Antônio Soares, “O tráfico de negros no Rio da Prata,” RIHGB 264 (July, 1959), 454 Google Scholar; Keith, George Mouat, A Voyage to South America and the Cape of Good Hope, in His Majesty’s Brig Protector (London, 1819), p. 42.Google Scholar

41 Alden, , Royal Government, p. 69, especially footnote 28 and p. 87, especially footnote 20.Google Scholar

42 The number of ships bound from Rio de Janeiro to southern ports increased from 20 to Colônia do Sacramento and 6 to Rio Grande do Sul in 1760 to 136 destined for Rio Grande do Sul in 1804 and 140 in 1805. “Fianças de embarcações, 1724–1808,” AN/SH, codice 157, Vols. 7and 12–15,passim; Souza, , “O tráfico de negros,” RIHGB, 264 (July, 1959), 446–454 Google Scholar; Keith, , A Voyage to South America, p. 42.Google Scholar

43 The importance of provisioning ships and repairing vessels to the Brazilian economy at the close of the colonial period is covered in Bauss, , “The Critical Importance of Rio de Janeiro to British Interests, with Particular Attention to Australia in Her Formative Years, 1787–1805,” in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 65, part 3 (December, 1979), 145–172.Google Scholar

44 Keith, , A Voyage to South America, p. 42.Google Scholar

45 Johan Baptist von Spix, Carl Fried rick Phillip von Martius and John Luccock recorded that exotic Asian goods such as rich cotton fabrics and porcelain entered La Plata from Rio de Janeiro. J. B. von Spix and von Martius, C.F.P., Travels in Brazil in the Years, 1817–1820, 2 vols. (London, 1824), I, 192–196 Google Scholar; Luccock, John, Notes on Rio de Janeiro, and the Southern Parts of Brazil: Taken during a Residence of Ten Years in That Country, from 1808 to 1818 (London, 1820), pp. 594–597.Google Scholar

46 Tobacco exports from Bahia to India continued to be inspected in Rio de Janeiro after 1795. do Amarai Lapa, José Roberto, A Bahia e a carreira da India (São Paulo, 1968), pp. 298–299 Google Scholar; each roll contained fifteen arrobas, each arroba weighed thirty-two pounds and each arroba sold for approximately 1,000 to 1,500 réis. Dom Miguel Antônio de Melo to Dom Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, Salvador, March 30, 1797, IHGB, lata 358, doc. 28.

47 de Studer, Elena F.S., La trate de negros en el Rio de La Piata durante el siglo X VIII (Buenos Aires, 1959), p. 324.Google Scholar

48 Magalhães, , “Almanak,” RIHGB, 30 (1867), 47–48.Google Scholar

49 Ibid.

50 Vicente José de Velasco Molina to Viceroy Vasconcelos, de Janeiro, Rio, Aprii 3, 1780, AN/ SH, “Correspondência dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 2, fol. 135.Google Scholar

51 Resumo do rendimento dos direitos dos escravos (Rio de Janeiro)… 1790 até 1794, AN/SH, ibid, codice 68, Vol. 14, fol. 91.

52 Studer, , La trate de negros, p. 141.Google Scholar

53 Keith, , A Voyage to South America, p. 42.Google Scholar

54 “Balanças gerais do comércio,” BN/SM, 1–, 4, 16 and 20, 22, 24, passim.

55 Souza, , “O tráfico de negros,” RIGHB, 264 (July, 1959), 454.Google Scholar

56 Viceroy Resende to the Crown, de Janeiro, Rio, July 2, 1795, AN/SH, “Correspondência dos vice-reis,” codice 68, Vol. 12, fols. 191–191v.Google Scholar

57 Ibid. Bahian and Pernambucan ships bound for Rio Grande do Sul and other southern ports were required to stop in Rio de Janeiro for a customs inspection before proceeding to their destinations prior to 1795.

58 “Balança da importação… no ano de 1805,” IHGB, lata 8, doc. 29; Carmo, , O problema nacional, p. 21 Google Scholar; “Mapa geral de importação… sobre a Bahia em cinco anos de 1798 até 1802,” BN/SM, 1–17, 12, 3, docs. 9, 13, 19, 25 and 28; “Dados estatísticos sôbre a capitania de Santa Catharina…,” João Alberto de Miranda Ribeiro, Desterro, November 17,1797, BN/SM, 11-35,30, 3, doc. 17.

59 Morton, F.W.O., “The Royal Timber in Late Colonial Bahia,” HAHR, 58, no. 1 (February, 1978), 41–61, passim.Google Scholar

60 Taking the export average of 1,123,000,000 réis (320,000 pounds sterling) for the period 1804-1807 and dividing by a population figure of 44,500 yields an annual per capita export value of approximately 25,250 réis (about 7 pounds sterling). In 1805 imports totaled approximately 1,060,000,000 réis (300,000 pounds sterling). Dividing by the population of 44,500 produces an annual per capita import value of around 23,800 réis (6.8 pounds sterling). Since exports and imports were large and the population of Rio Grande do Sul so small in comparison to other areas, no other Brazilian captaincy could approach the annual per capital figures. Magalhães, , “Almanak,” RIHGB, 30 (1867), 73 Google Scholar; “Balanço da importação e exportação da capitania do Rio Grande do Sul no ano de 1805,” IHGB, lata 8, doc. 29.