ABSTRACT
Brazilwood, source of a valued red dye, was the first staple of the colony, but sugar soon established its economic leadership. Between 1750 and 1800 Brazilian cotton production made large strides but as rapidly declined in the face of competition from the more efficient cotton growers of the United States. The Portuguese met the problem with raids on Indian villages, returning with trains of captives who were sold to plantation owners. Indian resistance to white aggression was handicapped the fatal propensity of the tribes to war against each other, a that the Portuguese utilized for their own advantage. Until the decree of January 28, 1808, which opened the ports of Brazil to the trade of all nations, the commerce of the colony was restricted to Portuguese nationals and ships. Gabriel Soares de Souza, a planter of Baia who wrote one of the earliest and most valuable accounts of colonial Brazil, tells of Duarte Coelho’s exploits.
