ABSTRACT
After the great upheavals of the revolutionary period, followed by the long era of civil war and economic uncertainty, the second half of the nineteenth century saw a gradual consolidation of the newly independent nations. Latin America's place in the international economic system directly depended on the price of its raw materials and foodstuffs, a fact that would have serious consequences for its future development. The relative prosperity brought by growing trade with Europe allowed for greater political stability, an indispensable component of a new economic order that demanded peace and continuity. Nineteenth-century conservatives and liberals gave little or no attention in their programs to the land problem—the growing concentration of landownership, with all its negative economic, social, and political consequences. Under the empire, as in colonial times, black slavery formed the massive base of virtually all of Brazil's significant economic activity.
