A produção canavieira numa região de agricultura diversificada

Cabo Frio, Capitania do Rio de Janeiro, 1797

Abstract

It is well-known that sugar-cane was planted in almost all the territory of Brazil, destined to produce sugar, cane brandy and also for direct consumption of its juice. The censuses of population and economic activity carried out during the last decades of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th by the Portuguese crown in some parishes of the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro are the sources which come closest to the numerous nominative censuses available for the captaincies of São Paulo, including modern Paraná, and Minas Gerais. For Rio de Janeiro, these censuses only listed nominally the heads of hearths.Theirsfamilies, non-family free residents and slaves were only counted, together with information on land occupied, existing cattle and agricultural production of the previous year. Despite suffering from many very probable omissions and imprecisions, these sources represent the most detailed information, hearth by hearth, available for Rio de Janeiro during slavery. We analyze the Mappa geral dos fogos, população, engenhos, fabricas, gados e rendimento anual pertencente ao distrito de Cabo Frio [1797], which authorizes important conclusions about its population and economic activities.