Evening star., 1915-11-21
Copyright. 1915, by Frank G. Carpenterh
BAHIA.

Copyright. 1875, By Frank G. Carpenter,
BAHIA
-OR almost 800 years Bahia was
IL the center of the slave trade of
lT1 Brazil The first negro slave
- was brought here from Africa
in 1883, only ninety-one years after
Columbus started out to discover
America Two years later there were
more than $4,000 African slaves in the
country, and the importations con-
tinued off and on until 1850. when Brit
ish gunboats were stationed in the
south Atlantic ocean for the purpose OF
suppressing the traffic. Nevertheless.
ten years later there were still 1.soo.-
900 slaves in Brazil. and in 1885 the
number was still more than 100000.
The emancipation proclamation of Bra
zil was issued more than ten years be-
fore that time. but the abolition Of
slavery was gradual and 1t was not
until 1888 that 1t was finally abolished.
At the beginning of the last century
Brazil had less than a half million
whites and something like 100000
negroes There were also 100000 In
dians. The whites exploited the ne
groes and the Indians. and they had SO
developed the country that they had
:. foreign trade of about ten million
dollars. At that time 10000 slaves were
being annually imported and 5000
We're sold in the market of Rio de jan
eiro. Many of the slaves were the
property of the crown and others were
attached to the converts. The negro
population was employed IN every kind
of labor, both civil and criminal It
- said that some of the masters play
ID the part of the old Jew. Fagin, in
fOliver Twist" They would send out
from twenty to one hundred slaves in
The morning without their breakfast
and compel them to bring in a certain
amount OF money at night What they
got over that amount belonged to them
selves. The builders made each slave
bring back with him a stone fit for
construction and white mechanics
had slaves 10 carry their tools.
Today the negroes of Brazil have, II
anything, more rights than the negroes
OF the United States. They are proper
iionateiy far greater in number. al
though the white race is said to be in
creasing more rapidly than the colored.
This is so insthe United States. In 1850
the proportion of coiored people in our
country was a little over Is per cent.
In 1880 IL had fallen to about 13 per
cent. while in 1910 II was lit
lie more than 10 per cent We had
then over 100000 people with more or
less African blood in their veins,
whereas Brazil. with less than ne-;ifth h
Of our population. had over 5000. 900.
OF these more than one-third were
pure negroes, and that is probably the
proportion among the colored people OF
the Brazil of today. The fewest are
now to be found right on the equator
while the most live in the state of Rio
de Janeiro, forming part of the cap
ital city. There are ten times as many
negroes in the state of Rio as in the
state of Amazonas.
Going farther north between the
equator and Rio de Janeiro we find the
black spots of the republic. II Is esti-
mated that So per cent of the people OF
these states of Bahia and Pernambuco
have a sprinkling of negro blood In
their veins. Going south this proper
Uruguay the colored man is rarity.
am told the white race is increas-
ing in all the states. and especially In
.he warmer ones. The most colored peo-
pie are found In the places where the
slaves were the most numerous and in
the cities to which they have eini-
grated.
Bahia was for a long time the center
of the slave trade, not only for South
America, but for> North America as
well. The kidnapers caught their car
goes along the gulf of Guinea and in
Portuguese West Africa and ran them