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latinometrics OP t1_j80q9tw wrote

From our newsletter:

Sugarcane was first introduced to Brazil in 1532. Nearly 500 years later, the country exports over 700M tonnes yearly—roughly the same amount as the continent of Asia, and 7x the amount exported by Africa.

This is a staggering number, not least because Brazil’s population of 216M is far below both continents’ total populations and land area. The country is the world’s largest exporter of sugarcane, producing 40% of the global total in 2020, which contributed $8.95B to its economy.

Cana de açúcar, as it’s locally called, is not native to Brazil and was instead brought to the country by Portuguese settlers. The commodity has a number of distinct uses. It can be drank raw or turned into a special juice, caldo de cana, which is quite popular across the country.

Source: FAO

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inconvenientnews t1_j80th79 wrote

> Portuguese settlers

Who were the workers doing the farming work on sugarcane plantations?

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ve8sn1/african_slave_trade/ ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣

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blankspaceBS t1_j82fhhe wrote

Yeah. Slavery here was mostly to keep the colonial sugar cane industry going. This isn't news to any brazilian. We learn that in elementary school.

It should have been pointed out somewhere in this thread tho

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imgrandojjo t1_j82ihuq wrote

Not just in brazil either, the Caribbean sugar industry more or less copied what Brazil was doing, up to and including the importing of African slaves.

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andreotnemem t1_j8au09t wrote

Yes, it's pretty well established History taught in both Portugal and Brazil. It was also the case allover the world. For at least 5 millenia (off the top of my head) and until fairly recently.

I'm sure everyone knows the banner in Giza: "slavery gets shit done".

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