1561–1790: As Brazil rose to become the premier global source of sugar in the late sixteenth century, the ports of Recife, Salvador da Bahia, and Rio de Jane…

1561–1790: As Brazil rose to become the premier global source of sugar in the late sixteenth century, the ports of Recife, Salvador da Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro became the leading New World markets for direct African arrivals. These three hubs also functioned as vital transit points for labor destined for the gold-mining districts of Minas Gerais and Goiás during the eighteenth century. Following 1760, the northern ports of Pará and Maranhão began to attract significant slaving traffic in response to a global surge in demand for cotton. Over 2.5 million arrivals are estimated for the Brazilian colony during this pre-nineteenth-century development phase.