

Thanks
to the continuous wars between Christians and Moslems, who were willing to
gain control over the Iberian Peninsula, at the end of the XVII century, around
250'000 Europeans lost their liberty in Portugal. In other words, slavery
was already a part of the European feudal society.
After
its discovery in 1500, Brazil became one of the firsts countries to establish
the slave trade. At the beginning, were the native Indians, specially from
the Tupinambi tribe, who were forced to work in the plantations and villas.
Encouraging the fights between tribes, helping them and afterwards attacking
them, paid to be a good technique to get new slaves.
The natives could not resist the inhumanity of the Portuguese, the terrible
food rations, European diseases and the infernal amount of work they were
put through, these conditions brought them almost to extinction.
The sad solution to this corrupt way of work exploitation would last over
300 years. The main reason for the substitution of native Americans by Africans,
was the progressive disparition of the Indian communities, nevertheless the
Indians were described as savage, fragile and unable to work continuously.
Black Africans on the other side were docile, resistant and used to hard work,
they were like sculpted for slavery. Multitudes of Africans were to be exchanged
against cheap merchandise at the African coasts, then sold as expensive goods
in the New World. Around 10 to 15 million Africans are believed to have arrived
at the Americas, 3 to 5 millions to have reached Brazil.
The African people, slaved, would never stop to fight against the condition
imposed by the so called "civilized".
