Brazilian Gold and British Traders in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID2791436
AuthorsC R Boxer (corresponding author)
Year1969
Volume49
Issue3
Pages454
Publication date1969-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2511780
OpenAlexW4250483873
LanguageEN
Citations received20

T HE ECONOMIC REVIVAL of Portugal and her overseas empire was expected to follow the definitive conclusion of peace with Spain and the United Provinces of the Northern Netherlands in 1668-1669, but it largely failed to materialize during the next two decades. Portuguese economy depended chiefly on the reexportation of Brazilian sugar and tobacco, and on the exportation of Portugal's own salt, wine, and fruit. These went to pay for the imports of cereals, cloth, and other manufactured goods, mostly from Northern Europe. value of those exports never sufficed to pay for these essential imports; and the country's balance of payments problem became increasingly critical as British and French West Indian sugar production came into competition with the older Brazilian. Who says Brazil says sugar and more sugar, wrote the planters of Bahia to the Crown in 1662. A couple of years later visiting English seaman noted of Brazil: The country is much abounding with sugars, which is the best sugar for the most part that is made. He added that Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Recife, yearly lade many ships with sugar and tobacco and Brazilwood for the merchants of Portugal, [Brazil] being great enriching to the Crown of Portugal, without which it would be but poor kingdom. But in 1671 the experienced English consul-general at Lisbon, Thomas Maynard, a very stirring man on his nation's behalf, reported to his government: All their sugars which are arrived this year, with all other commodities [which] this kingdom affords to be exported, will not pay for half of the goods that are imported, so that their money will all be carried out of their kingdom in few years. 1 position was aggravated by the general economic depression which was then affecting much of Western Europe, and by decline in the

Ancient history · Art · Competition (biology · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Empire · Exportation · Government (linguistics · Political science · Portuguese · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · History of Colonial Brazil

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