Efficiency Versus Manpower. Reassessing Slavery in Large-Scale Plantations and in Small Farms in Brazilian Cotton Production (C. 1750 - C.1810)

The article compares the two largest raw cotton regions in Brazil between the 1750s and 1810s. Through the analysis of new series of cotton exports and parish records, we argue that the high pattern of slave ownership, together with the organization of labor and specialization in cotton, made slavery more productive in Maranhão. In turn, the low pattern of slave ownership and food cultivation made slavery less productive in the northeast. Yet, the enormous manpower working on small farms in the northeast grew cotton at quantities close to the efficient large-scale plantations in Maranhão