Slavery in Brazil and Cuba Research Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

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Slavery in Brazil and Cuba
Introduction
Slavery is one of the traditions which were prevalent in most of the countries of western hemisphere during the Atlantic slave trade era. It has shaped the history of several great countries leaving a deep impact on their social, economic, and political identity. Slavery as a tradition was institutionalized mostly by the plantation owners to get cheap labor and also the slave traders, who earned hefty profits through this business. Slavery was abolished in most of the countries towards early 19th century although its proper implementation took place at a much later date. Latin American countries were the most prominent users of slavery as a tradition, and among them Brazil was the last country to abolish slavery. Cuba is another Latin American country which had also imbibed the tradition of slavery, and the timelines for abolition were also quite similar to Brazil. There were several social, political, and economic aspects of slave trade which were similar in both countries. Brazil and Cuba both had Spanish colonies which encouraged the tradition of slavery for their windfall gains in the plantation industries such as sugar and coffee. The social and religious fabric of both the countries also seems to be quite similar, which resulted in a thorough and systematic institutionalization of slavery. Therefore, this paper makes an attempt to investigate the similar elements of slave tradition present in both countries, and draws an analogy to the social, economic, and religious similarities as well.
Comparison of Brazil and Cuba
Colonized by the Spanish and Portuguese, both Cuban and Brazilian societies had the Catholic Church. In both the societies, slaves were baptized after which they were allowed to marry. The urban locations such as Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Matanzas, Montevideo, and Havana catholic lay brotherhoods were joined by the slaves. Slaves started joining Cabildos de nacion in urban areas of Cuba, which were organizations that provided burial services. These associations were structured along the ethnic lines and as a result, formed a close coterie for the African slaves. Slaves were allowed to endure slavery hardships and had the right to take steps to free themselves. 5.1 million slaves from Africa were imported by Brazil in comparison to 778000 slaves imported by Cuba (Araújo). Brazil had good sugar production capacity in the seventeenth century, whereas sugar industry in Cuba flourished after intensification of Saint-Domingues slavery revolution. In early nineteenth, both Cuba and Brazil became large coffee producers. Most of the slaves of Cuba and Brazil were transported from west and central African locations where Yoruba and Bantu languages predominated (Naro). Similar African spiritual traditions were brought which along with Catholicism became the reason for emergence of Santeria and Candomble religion. Warfare knowledge was also transmitted which was used for managing slave revolts in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Latin American legal system including Cuba and Brazil was heavily dependent on Roman law, which affected enslaved population in Cuba and Brazil in similar ways. In both the societies, slaves were free to purchase their freedom. Slaves appealed in court to obtain their liberty and condemned sexual abuse or bad treatment. Despite their large slavery population size, slavery was there both in urban areas and plantation zones in both Cuba and Brazil.
Merchant of slaves amassed huge profits, who continued their import business even after legal abolition of slave importation. In 1820, slave trade was banned for the first time in Cuba. After this in 1867, this ban was enforced effectively which resulted in colonization of 499,580 slaves in Spanish colony. Brazil also imported 480,000 slaves after first legal prohibition in 1831 (Murray). Slave planters and owners in both Brazil and Cuba got large benefits. Slavery was a source of income and business, which made the large contribution for expansion of capitalism in America and Europe during nineteenth century. Cuban and Brazilian slave owners did not want to end the slavery as it was a lucrative way of income for them. This kind of opposition led to gradual emancipation adoption which was chosen by all local elites in societies of Latin America except by the Dominican Republic.
After division of Cuba on July 4, 1870, Moret law was implemented according to which all children of slave mothers would be liberated, and the older slaves above the age of sixty were freed. This law had large number of restrictions such as children should remain under custody of mother’s master, which made it very complex. Similar legislation was passed in Brazil in 1871. According to which slave mothers’ children were freed. But again, similar to Moret law, it had also a lot of restrictions, which made sure that not a single living person was freed in Brazil. In 1880, Cuba passed a law to end the slavery, which was suggested to be replaced with apprenticeship of eight years (Araújo). These free slaves were called patrocinados, and their masters were known as patronos. Hence, this system was ended in 1886 to abolish the slavery completely.
Brazilian slavery was stopped in 1888. In both the countries,...