Slavery demography and the impact of abolitionist laws in Espírito Santo (1850-1888)

Abstract

This work consists of a demographic study of Espírito Santo province between 1850 and 1888. In it will be considered the socioeconomic changes, responsible to a large extent for the changes in the of demographic design of the central and southern regions of Espírito Santo. The slavery laws that operated in the province in the sense of liberating slaves little by little, preserving the process of gradual abolition politically oriented in Brazil which eventually led to complete and unrestricted abolition, will be analysed. The analysis begins in the 1850s, because it is a period of changes in the economic, social and demographic of Espírito Santo. With the emergence of the coffee culture, the province reached the highest rate of slave labor in its history. Such an analysis is critical to understanding subsequent years. From the peak of the slave population (1850-1871), until the progressive decline, the impacts of the laws of 1871 (Law of the Free Belly) and of 1885 (Law of the Sexagenarians) in the slave demography of the Espírito Santo were analyzed.

Keywords:
Slave demography; gradual abolition; Espírito Santo; 19th century