Brazil was the single largest importer of African slaves, accounting for almost 6 million slaves imported between 1500 and the late 1800s. Slaves could serve a variety of purposes abroad, but they had an almost single-minded use for slaves in Brazil: to do hard labor on the numerous plantations that sold coffee and sugar around the world. For this reason, young African males were the preferred type of slave. They were stronger and more capable of the demanding work on the plantations than older males, females, or children.

Like the rest of the Americas, Brazil attempted to first tap the indigenous population as a source of free labor. However, the native peoples, vulnerable to European diseases (namely smallpox) and unaccustomed to the harsh rigors of plantation labor, had very high mortality rates. They also faced fertility problems, which resulted in low birthrates. Europeans living in the Americas were inflicted with…