ABSTRACT
Compared with the successful Portuguese captaincies of Pernambuco, Bahia or even São Paulo de Luanda in Angola, Rio de Janeiro represented a rather secondary colony during the initial centuries of colonization. The incipient sugar cane economy did not really take off here as it had in the Northeast. However, the discovery of mines in the distant interior started to change the destiny of the port city. For a long time, the Portuguese had been trying to discover precious metals in their colonial territories. In contrast to Spanish America, this did not happen until the very end of the seventeenth century. When in 1693-1695, gold prospectors finally hit upon deposits in riverbeds of present-day Minas Gerais, a veritable gold rush followed. The mining boom also impacted on the surrounding regions. Rio de Janeiro and some other ports on the nearest coast capitalized on the fast growing trade in foodstuff and other supplies to the mining region. Workers were the most important commodity the mine owners needed. African slaves-once again-provided the bulk of the labour force for the mines. Mining gave a further impetus to Brazilian slavery. The mining economy provided huge benefits, not only for the mine owners, but also for the Crown. The king of Portugal required miners to contribute one fifth of all precious metals to the royal treasury. Yet if the export of bulky wooden crates filled with sugar from the coastal regions was relatively easy to monitor, gold or diamonds mined in the distant hinterland were more likely to escape fiscal control. Since only a very limited number of royal officers patrolled the vast interior of the colony, smuggling of gold and diamonds expanded swiftly. The problem of tax evasion and the difficulties in effectively inspecting the mining area showed the weakness of the Portuguese colonial state and was a cause of increasing concern. One of the measures designed to improve control over the territory and inhabitants was the transfer of the capital of the Viceroyalty of Brazil from Salvador da Bahia to Rio in 1763. This, in effect, acknowledged the growing role of Rio de Janeiro in the mining economy.
