Rice in southeastern Brazil

This chapter discusses the expansion and commercialization of rice cultivation in Brazil during the transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century and, in greater detail, the expansion of cultivation and its economic impact on the Ribeira Valley region in the captaincy of São Paulo. Traditionally a northern commodity, rice was widespread in the parishes of Rio de Janeiro and the villages of Paranaguá and Iguape. Until 1808, rice was exported through the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro to the Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto, but with the arrival of the Portuguese court to Brazil, rice was concentrated in the port of Rio and Vale do Ribeira, making them the main suppliers until the 1820s. Although exports continued, part of the production was allocated for domestic consumption. In Iguape, the increase in cultivated area expanded the free and enslaved population, the number of rice mills, and trade. Export revenues and import expenditures increased in the first three decades of the nineteenth century and created an agrarian elite that also engaged in commercial activities. In the 1820s, trade balances exhibited deficits, evidencing the dependence on credit from rice buyers and suppliers of slaves in Rio de Janeiro.