Indian slavery to black slavery in Brazil
The development of samba was inseparable from the "black slave trade".
Before the 16th century, there were few black slaves on Brazilian land, when plantation owners generally chose local Indians as labor to cut down Brazilian wood, and later with the expansion of sugar cane cultivation, plantation owners enslaved Indians due to the need for long-term labor, but Indians were not only protected by the Portuguese royal family, but also continued to resist slavery, coupled with the sharp decline in Indian population caused by infectious diseases forced Brazilian plantation owners to choose to buy relatively high prices of black slaves.
There were three main sources of black slaves in Brazil, the so-called Sudanese, including the Yoruba and Dahomey; The second is the Sudanese concentrated in Bahia, who are strong, brave, intelligent, and industrious and docile; The third is the Bantu people, from Angola, Congo, Mozambique and other countries, mainly distributed in Rio de Janeiro and Miskinas.
The development of the slave trade has created opportunities for different cultures to communicate, and it is also the slave trade that has opened up a platform for cultural exchange and integration.
Indian slavery conflicted with the political decisions of the Portuguese crown, and the Pope's authorization of the Portuguese crown's territorial rights over the Americas was premised on the need to protect the Indians of the land and to "Europeanize" the Indians by spreading Christianity and European civilization.
The Portuguese crown forbade the illegal conversion of Indians into slavery.
The royal family also spent a lot of energy sending missionaries to the colonies, preaching to the local Indians, and converting their faith.
In 1570, the King of Portugal issued a decree.
It was stipulated that Indians were born free and that Indians could only become slaves under two circumstances: first, captured in the course of a "just war" proclaimed by a king or governor; Second, arrests in cannibalism.
In addition to political reasons, there were natural disasters, and the arrival of Europeans also brought diseases that were not found in the American soil, and the Indians had no ability to resist, and the disease caused a large decline in the Indian population, forcing plantation owners to find another labor.
Finally, it is also because the continuous Indian resistance seriously affects Portuguese production activities, and between 1540 and 1580, with the expansion of plantations, the Indian resistance was still to defend the traditional land, and this resistance was continuous and uninterrupted.
Under all these pressures, the Portuguese began to gradually abandon the cheaper Indian slaves in favor of black slaves from Africa."
The transition from Indian slavery to black slavery lasted about half a century, and for the Portuguese, black slavery was not a new species, and black slaves had been sold to Portugal in 1433, and black slaves were legitimate and legal for Portugal.
The arrival of black slaves created conditions for cultural exchange.
In 1888, slavery was abolished in Brazil, giving African slaves personal freedom.
At the same time, it also provides more free development space for their dance.
By the end of the 19th century, the structure of Brazil's urban and rural economy had changed.
The rise of new cities attracted a large population, including African slaves, poor Italians, and European immigrants.
The inhabitants of the coastal region of Bahia began to migrate to the central-western and southern regions of Brazil.
Emancipated people of African descent also moved to Rio de Janeiro, a new city in Brazil, with a wave of internal migration.
Upon arrival in Rio de Janeiro, people of African descent moved to a place called Plaka Onze, where no one had to pay any legal fees to build shacks.
Therefore, for free but penniless people of African descent, living here is the best option.
This is the favelas of Brazil, where houses called "Aunt Sita" are popular in Rio de Janeiro.
The people who come to dance here are not only the poor, but also politicians, musicians and instrumentalists.
The first samba song with lyrics in the history of Brazilian music, "Talk on the Phone", was born here, marking the birth of "samba".
The development of samba has gone through several stages from "not entering the upper class" to high society, from mulatto white people, from belonging to the lower class in the early days to being accepted by the whole people later.
At first, it was only allowed in farmhouses.
At that time, the upper class of society only danced the European aristocratic dance, and cultural exchange and penetration were inevitable in the same living environment.
European dance injected different blood into the African dance belt and played an important role in promoting the formation of samba dance.
Bibliography:
[1] WU Qingchao. The origin of Latin dance[J].Sports Culture Guide,2002,(02):46-47.)
