Paulistas
Encyclopedia
Paulistas are the inhabitants of the state of São Paulo
, Brazil
, and of its antecessor the Capitaincy of São Vicente
, whose capital early shifted from the village of São Vicente to the one of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga
.
The early population of São Paulo consisted mainly of indigenous Amerindian allied either to the Portuguese settlers. The Portuguese settlements were small.
As the Bandeirantes
gained power and the vice-kingdom of Brazil developed, the Portuguese element predominated in the population, the Indians being either absorbed or killed. But the province of São Paulo, enlarged by the Bandeiras to include Mato Grosso
, Goiás
, Paraná
and Santa Catarina
, remained undeveloped, having neither the gold of Minas Gerais
nor the sugar cane of Pernambuco
. As a consequence, it did not receive the same influx of black slaves during the 16th and 17th centuries as the more prosperous provinces of Brazil. Nevertheless, the number of black slaves increased substantially in São Paulo during the Brazilian Empire, as the slave traffic reached its peak during the first half of the 19th century. After the abolition of the international slave trade in 1850, many more slaves were transferred from declining regions of Brazil (such as the Northeast) to work in coffee plantations.
The economic development of São Paulo only really took off with the founding of coffee plantations in the nineteenth century. Those coffee plantations were manned, from the beginning, by slaves, and remained so during most of the 19th century. Not even the abolition of the transatlantic trade changed this, with the coffee barons resorting to the import of slaves from the Northeaster and Southern regions. Both the coffee planters and the Brazilian government, however, were aware that the abolition of slavery could be postponed but not avoided at all; as a result, a few experiments in immigration were tried during this period, and some ideas were discussed, including the immigration of Chinese workers. Only in the 1880s, however, did immigration start in earnest.
From then on, immigration was the solution adopted to what was seen as a labour shortage, and Italian and Spanish immigrants made the bulk of the workers brought to coffee plantations; the reasons why ex-slaves were not employed, or were only marginally employed, are unclear and subject to debate. Much is made a supposed "whitening" ideology, or even "program", but the cold fact is that, when faced with the impossibility of obtaining European manpower, the coffee barons had no qualms about resorting to Japanese immigrants. A curious fact from this period was the immigration of US Southerners moving from a country where slavery had been abolished to one where it still existed. Of course, those were not manual workers and didn't come to work in coffee plantations.
The wealth produced by coffeeculture eventually sparked urbanisation and industrialisation; the growing urban environment attracted even more immigrants, especially eastern Europeans (among whom some Jews), Armenians, and Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. Later, as the foreign immigration declined, a strong chain of internal migration from Brazilian Northeast developed.
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and of its antecessor the Capitaincy of São Vicente
Capitaincy of São Vicente
The Captaincy of São Vicente was the only captaincy to succeed in Southern Brazil, along with Pernambuco in the North. It was the origin of the state of São Paulo and of the expansion of Portuguese America west of the Tordesilhas Line by the Bandeiras....
, whose capital early shifted from the village of São Vicente to the one of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga
São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga
São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was the village that grew into São Paulo, Brazil in the region known as Campos de Piratininga...
.
The early population of São Paulo consisted mainly of indigenous Amerindian allied either to the Portuguese settlers. The Portuguese settlements were small.
As the Bandeirantes
Bandeirantes
The bandeirantes were composed of Indians , caboclos , and some whites who were the captains of the Bandeiras. Members of the 16th–18th century South American slave-hunting expeditions called bandeiras...
gained power and the vice-kingdom of Brazil developed, the Portuguese element predominated in the population, the Indians being either absorbed or killed. But the province of São Paulo, enlarged by the Bandeiras to include Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
, Goiás
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
, Paraná
Paraná (state)
Paraná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
and Santa Catarina
Santa Catarina (state)
Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
, remained undeveloped, having neither the gold of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
nor the sugar cane of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
. As a consequence, it did not receive the same influx of black slaves during the 16th and 17th centuries as the more prosperous provinces of Brazil. Nevertheless, the number of black slaves increased substantially in São Paulo during the Brazilian Empire, as the slave traffic reached its peak during the first half of the 19th century. After the abolition of the international slave trade in 1850, many more slaves were transferred from declining regions of Brazil (such as the Northeast) to work in coffee plantations.
The economic development of São Paulo only really took off with the founding of coffee plantations in the nineteenth century. Those coffee plantations were manned, from the beginning, by slaves, and remained so during most of the 19th century. Not even the abolition of the transatlantic trade changed this, with the coffee barons resorting to the import of slaves from the Northeaster and Southern regions. Both the coffee planters and the Brazilian government, however, were aware that the abolition of slavery could be postponed but not avoided at all; as a result, a few experiments in immigration were tried during this period, and some ideas were discussed, including the immigration of Chinese workers. Only in the 1880s, however, did immigration start in earnest.
From then on, immigration was the solution adopted to what was seen as a labour shortage, and Italian and Spanish immigrants made the bulk of the workers brought to coffee plantations; the reasons why ex-slaves were not employed, or were only marginally employed, are unclear and subject to debate. Much is made a supposed "whitening" ideology, or even "program", but the cold fact is that, when faced with the impossibility of obtaining European manpower, the coffee barons had no qualms about resorting to Japanese immigrants. A curious fact from this period was the immigration of US Southerners moving from a country where slavery had been abolished to one where it still existed. Of course, those were not manual workers and didn't come to work in coffee plantations.
The wealth produced by coffeeculture eventually sparked urbanisation and industrialisation; the growing urban environment attracted even more immigrants, especially eastern Europeans (among whom some Jews), Armenians, and Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. Later, as the foreign immigration declined, a strong chain of internal migration from Brazilian Northeast developed.