page_title: Engenho dos Erasmos
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Engenho dos Erasmos / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Engenho dos Erasmos
context_page_description: Engenho dos Erasmos or Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos was a sugar cane facility on the island of São Vicente, Brazil. Constructed around 1534, the engenho was owned for most of its working life by the Schetz family. It is now a ruin, national monument and tourist destination.
context_section_description: Large-scale manufacturing of sugar in Brazil started with the 1532 expedition to São Vicente, led by Martim Afonso de Sousa. The Engenho dos Erasmos sugar mill was probably constructed a few years later, around 1534 and was originally known as Engenho do Governador - the Governor's Mill. It was owned by Martim Afonso, Pero Lopes de Souza, Francisco Lobo, and Vicente Gonçalves, and was possibly the third such mill to be set up in Brazil, after Engenho da Madre de Deus in 1532 and Engenho de São João in 1533.
  It became the property of Erasmus II Schetz around 1540, via the commercial representatives Johan Van Hielst and João Veniste. When Erasmus died in 1550 it passed to his son, Gaspard II Schetz and it was owned by successive generations of the Schetz family until the late 17th century, although they tried to sell it in 1593 and 1612. It produced sugar cane for export and domestic consumption, and operated until at least 1580, when there was increasing competition of sugar cane production from northeast Brazil and closed by the end of the 18th century.
  The site contained the factory, as well as administrative and accommodation buildings (including for the slaves). As well as the main building containing the factory, all under a single roof and powered by a water wheel, there was a blacksmith shop and two roofed houses. The site also had a chapel and a cemetery, and was dedicated to Saint George.  Although often said to be built in Azorian style, it is based on the Madeiran mill style.
  The factory was attacked by Thomas Cavendish in 1591. In 1615, Joris van Spilbergen set fire to the factory, which destroyed most of its facilities.
caption: The ruins of the factory, with a reconstructed roof
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