Using African slaves is an important factor of increasing productivity. After the Portuguese settled in Brazil in 1500s, they attempted to use Indians for labor, but results in a failure. According to Maddison (n.d.), “[The Indians] were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to Western diseases, could run away and hide rather easily” (1). In other words, Portuguese colonists believed they were absolutely useless. Instead, they used African slaves to produce sugar. Statistics show “In the sixteenth and seventeenth century official revenue from Brazil was small – [there
Using African slaves is an important factor of increasing productivity. After the Portuguese settled in Brazil in 1500s, they attempted to use Indians for labor, but results in a failure. According to Maddison (n.d.), “[The Indians] were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to Western diseases, could run away and hide rather easily” (1). In other words, Portuguese colonists believed they were absolutely useless. Instead, they used African slaves to produce sugar. Statistics show “In the sixteenth and seventeenth century official revenue from Brazil was small – [there