Home » History of Brazil » Colonial Brazil » Sugar Mill in Colonial Brazil: History and Structure

The sugar mill in colonial Brazil was the center of the colony’s economy for almost three centuries. In this guide, you will first see where sugarcane came from and how the first mills emerged. Then you will learn what the structure of a sugar mill looked like and, finally, how sugar was made, step by step.

First of all, it is worth remembering that sugarcane originated in Asia and spread through Europe and the Americas until it reached Colonial Brazil, where it became the main economic activity.

Note: quotations from Portuguese-language sources have been freely translated.

Thus, the expansion of sugarcane cultivation drove the development of several types of mills, which varied in size and technology. Moreover, they were essential to the sugar-making process.

In addition, these mills also produced by-products such as sugarcane juice, garapa (fresh cane juice drink) and rapadura (solid blocks of unrefined sugar), which were part of everyday colonial life and of the sugar economy.

Sugar as “White Gold”: The Greatest Wealth of Colonial Brazil from 1500 to 1822

According to the historian Luís Amaral, from 1500 to 1822, that is, from the discovery to independence, Brazil exported goods worth a total of 586 million pounds sterling.

Which product made the largest contribution? Many would say it was gold; however, that is not the case: gold contributed only 170 million.

Coffee, on the other hand, only began to stand out at the end of this period. Moreover, in our trade balance, it weighed less than rice, cotton, tobacco, timber and hides, and only slightly more than cocoa.

As a result, its exports during the colonial period did not exceed four million in total.

In fact, from the discovery to independence, there was one product that, on its own, earned more than all the others combined, including those from mining: sugar, with about 300 million pounds sterling exported (AMARAL, História Geral da Agricultura Brasileira, v. 1, p. 326, 1958).

Therefore, the aim of this text is to show how sugarcane sugar arrived in Brazil and how the cane fields and the mills were organized. In addition, it describes how sugar was made and recounts a little of Brazilian economic history in the colonial period, when sugar became the “white gold” of the Portuguese colony in the 17th century.

Antonil: the main source on the sugar mills

One of the best accounts of sugar production was written by the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Antonio Andreoni (1649-1716), who, while living in Brazil, adopted the name André João Antonil.

Later, in 1711, he published in Lisbon his book Cultura e Opulência do Brasil por suas Drogas e Minas (Culture and Opulence of Brazil through its Drugs and Mines).

In this book, Antonil describes in detail the reality of cane cultivation, the structure of the mills and the making of sugar. For this, he took as a reference the Bahian mills of the late 17th century and early 18th century.

The original book has more than 200 pages, although it also deals with tobacco production, gold mining and cattle ranching, among other topics. Even so, the first part of the book is devoted exclusively to sugar.

For those interested, I recommend reading this book, which is also available in versions in modern Portuguese.

Contents: history of the sugar mill in colonial Brazil

1. Sugarcane from Asia to Europe and the Americas
2. Development of sugarcane cultivation in Colonial Brazil
3. Cane fields and slavery
4. Types of sugar mills
5. Structure of a sugar mill in Colonial Brazil
6. Making sugar
7. Types of sugar
8. Cane juice, garapa, rapadura and cachaça
9. Origin of rum
10. National Museum of Sugar and Alcohol
11. Frequently asked questions

1. Sugarcane from Asia to Europe and the Americas

Originally, there were six species of Saccharum, the scientific name for sugarcane. The first species to be domesticated was Saccharum officinarum. Over the centuries, its popularity and the interest in growing it led to hybridization between the species, thus creating hybrid species with characteristics superior to those of the original plants.

Crossbreeding between species in plant cultivation or animal breeding is a common and ancient process, because humans realized that certain physical traits could be passed on through crossing. However, it is important to stress that this idea arose long before the understanding of DNA, genetics, phenotype and other modern concepts.

In addition, sugarcane belongs to the Poaceae family, the same family that includes corn, rice, sorghum, wheat, barley, rye, oats and bamboo, among others.

“The sugar cane does not reach the height of a tree; rather, it resembles corn and other canes, rising in stalks of seven to eight feet, about an inch thick. It is spongy, juicy and full of a sweet white pith. Its leaves are two cubits long, the flower is filamentous, and the root is soft and only slightly woody. From it sprout shoots in hope of a new harvest. The cane likes moist soil, a hot climate and rather mild air. The West Indies are extremely fertile for these canes, although they are also produced in the East.”

1.1. Origin and spread of sugarcane around the world

Sugarcane is native to the island of New Guinea. From there, it spread through the Malay Archipelago and Indonesia and then migrated to the mainland, establishing itself in India and Southeast Asia, in countries that today include Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and southern China.

In India, we find mentions of sugarcane cultivation and its ritual use in ancient texts. For example, in the Mahabharata, an important Hindu poem, there are references to sugarcane, including the information that the god of love, Kama, had a bow made from this plant. Could this be the origin of the idea that love is sweet?

Sugarcane was grown for centuries by different Asian peoples; however, it is not certain exactly when it migrated to western Asia.

Luís Amaral [1958] pointed out that the cane may have been taken to Persia as early as the time of Alexander the Great, in the 4th century BC, since we know that Alexander made incursions as far as India. Then, from Persia, the plant would have reached Syria. However, its distribution throughout the Middle East came with the Arabs, centuries later, in the Middle Ages.

With the expansion of the Islamic empire of the heirs to the legacy of the prophet Muhammad (570-632), at the end of the 11th century, Christian Europe came into conflict with the Arab world. The main reason was the conquest of the holy city of Jerusalem.

As the Crusades unfolded, Europeans came into contact with new plants, animals, peoples and cultures. One of these contacts was with sugarcane, which attracted the interest of some Italian merchants. As a result, they took seedlings to be planted in Sicily and on the island of Rhodes.

Moreover, the Arab expansion led this desert people into Egypt and then across North and East Africa. From the region that is now Morocco, the Arabs crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered what is now southern Spain.

Then, over the following centuries, they expanded their domains in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling large parts of the present-day territories of Portugal and Spain. Thus, through this colonization, they introduced the cultivation of new plants, such as oranges, lemons, tea and even sugarcane.

The Arabs who mixed with the Berber peoples of North Africa came to be called Moors by the Spanish and Portuguese. Meanwhile, in Italy, Greece and the Holy Land, Europeans also referred to them as Saracens.

Sugar as medicine in Europe

For a long time, sugar was used in Europe as a medicine. For example, doctors recommended eating it pure or used it as an ingredient in making potions, pastes and drinks. Although it has no effective healing properties, sugar, with its high sucrose content, is a natural source of energy.

Even today, there are medications that use sugar in their recipe; for example, homemade oral rehydration solution contains sugar and salt.

Nowadays, it is known that sugar, in large quantities, is quite harmful to health.

However, in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, what we now call alternative medicine was commonly used. As a result, there was an endless variety of natural medicines made with diverse ingredients, reminiscent of the fanciful magic potions seen in literature, films and cartoons.

With sugar, it was no different. Barléu [1940] reports that, in ancient times, sugar was used as a remedy for problems of the stomach, intestines, liver and other ailments.

Besides being used as a medicine, sugar was also an important ingredient in preparing food and drinks; after all, it was one of the spices of the Indies.

Sugar as a luxury item

In some countries, such as Portugal, the Hispanic kingdoms (Spain was only unified at the end of the 15th century), the Italian city-states, France and England, nobles or wealthy merchants offered chests of sugar as gifts. In fact, this was considered a luxury present.

In England under the Tudors, in the 16th century, sugar was so expensive that only the rich could buy it.

A curious fact is that, because people were not in the habit of brushing their teeth or using other means to clean them, excessive consumption of sugar and sweets resulted in teeth darkened by cavities. However, the nobility found a way around this.

Decayed teeth became synonymous with wealth, because to have dark teeth from sugar, you had to have a lot of money to buy sugar.

Consequently, there were cases of less well-off people who rubbed soot and other substances on their teeth to darken them. After all, the lower classes always wanted to imitate the lifestyle of the elites.

Until the 18th century, in Europe, sugar would remain a profitable product, and for a long time it was accessible only to the elites. In the case of the lower classes, when they did manage to get hold of this product, they consumed very poor-quality sugar. Usually, this was the so-called mascavo sugar (brown sugar), which was seen as inferior in quality and therefore relegated to the less well-off classes.

The Portuguese and the sugar mills of Madeira

In the 15th century, the Portuguese already had their cane fields in southern Portugal, in the Algarve region. Then, with the start of the Age of Discovery in 1415, marked by the conquest of the Moorish city of Ceuta in the Maghreb (now Morocco), the Portuguese began their overseas voyages along the western coast of Africa and out into the ocean.

Then, around 1418, the navigators João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira discovered the island of Porto Santo. The following year, Zarco returned together with Bartolomeu Perestrelo, and they discovered the island of Madeira, which came to give its name to the archipelago.

Prince Henry (D. Henrique, 1394-1460), one of the main figures behind Portugal’s maritime expansion policy, was the one who issued the orders to begin growing cane in Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and other places. Prince Henry saw that sugar was a profitable product and therefore decided to expand the cane fields in the Portuguese domains.

The first Portuguese mills appeared on the Island of Madeira. In this case, in 1452, Diogo Vaz de Teive, squire to Prince Henry, built the first engenho (sugar mill) on the island, in the Captaincy of Funchal. His mill was powered by water.

In 1590, Gaspar Frutuoso, author of Saudades da Terra, noted the existence of more than 30 mills in Madeira alone. However, it should be stressed that Madeira’s sugar production was in decline because Brazilian production had overtaken it.

In 1496, in an attempt to raise the price per arroba (a unit of about 15 kg) of sugarloaf, the Portuguese king Manuel I limited Madeira’s sugar production to 120,000 arrobas a year. His aim was to control the availability of the product and, consequently, its selling and buying prices. After all, by reducing the supply of the goods, prices would rise.

Of these 120,000 arrobas, according to a note by Furtado [2005], 40,000 arrobas went to Flanders, 16,000 to Venice, 13,000 to Genoa, 15,000 to Chios and 7,000 to England. In other words, these countries were the main consumers of Portuguese sugar.

1.2. Christopher Columbus planted the first cane field in the Americas

In 1493, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) returned to the New World, to the Sea of the Caribs, or Caribbean Sea, where he had arrived a year earlier. At the time, he believed he was somewhere in the Indies, which is why he called the native inhabitants Indians.

After all, Columbus had “discovered” the New World, the West Indies, the Americas, on October 12, 1492.

On this return voyage, the king of Spain charged him with continuing to explore other islands. In the previous year, Columbus had reached an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador. On this second voyage, however, he sighted and visited other islands, but chose to land on a large island that was named Hispaniola (“little Spain”) in 1493. This is the present-day island of Santo Domingo, where the countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti are located, sharing the same island.

It was in Hispaniola that Christopher Columbus, in 1493, founded the town of La Isabela and planted the first cane field in the Americas.

The first serious attempt at colonization in the new Iberian possessions took place in 1502, led by Nicolás de Ovando; moreover, the first American mill seems to have operated in the Spanish Antilles in the year 1506.

Then, by 1520, 20 mills had been set up; by 1550, about 40 were operating in Hispaniola. After 1553, Mexico also began exporting sugar to the mother country.

Despite this good start, the sugar industry there cooled down. This was due to the exodus of the populations of the Islands to Mexico and Peru, the shift of attention to the mining of precious metals, and the great struggles and revolutions that characterized the early days of the islands of the American Mediterranean. It only gained new momentum in the middle of the following century, when there was a great rise and considerable increase in demand for the product.” (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 146).

1.3. Sugarcane arrives in Brazil

On April 22, 1500, the fleet of twelve ships commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467/1468 – 1520) sighted land, which he named Ilha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross).

After making contact with the Indigenous people, a few days later the “discovered” land was renamed Terra de Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy Cross). Decades later, it would come to be called Brazil.

In any case, from 1500 to 1532, Santa Cruz was not colonized. Instead, the Portuguese merely mapped the coast, made contact with the Indigenous people, described the fauna and flora, and extracted brazilwood, because no gold or silver was discovered at that time.

In addition, the spice trade in Asia was very profitable and absorbed the political and economic efforts of the Crown. After all, Cabral began his voyage with the initial mission of reaching India again, using the route discovered by Vasco da Gama (1460/1469 – 1524) in 1498.

Besides this profitable trade in Eastern spices, Portugal also showed no initial interest in planting sugarcane in the New World, as the Spanish did. This was because production in Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and the Algarve met consumption needs.

Was there sugarcane in Brazil before 1532?

Usually, at school, we learn that the first seedlings arrived with the expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa and were planted in São Vicente in 1532. However, there is evidence of earlier attempts to grow sugarcane in Brazil, and they may well have succeeded.

Amaral [1958] points out that in 1516, the Casa da Índia (India House), a Portuguese trading company that handled business in the Indies, considered sending some sugarcane growers to Santa Cruz (Brazil). The goal was to study the land and the possibilities of planting sugarcane.

The Brazilian historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen (1816-1878) gave us an interesting opinion on the proposal of the Casa da Índia:

We know that, in 1516, he ordered, by means of a royal charter, the factor and officials of the Casa da Índia to give axes and hoes and all other tools to the people who were going to settle Brazil; and that, by another charter, he ordered the same factor and officials to «seek out and choose a practical and capable man to go to Brazil and start a sugar mill; and that he be given his allowance, and also all the copper and iron and other necessary things» for building the said mill”. (VARNHAGEN, 1858, p. 95).

In 1526, the customs records of Lisbon already listed a tax on sugar produced in Santa Cruz.

Amaral suggests that, if there were cane fields at that time, they were probably either in Ilhéus, as Gabriel Soares de Sousa suggested, or in Itamaracá, where one of the colony’s most important trading posts was located.

For Amaral, the cane fields must have been in Itamaracá, because that was the site of the trading post of Cristóvão Jacques, a Portuguese nobleman who arrived in Brazil in 1503.

Jacques returned in 1516 and stayed three years, leading naval patrols to fight French pirates from the coast of Rio Grande do Norte to the mouth of the Río de la Plata.

Moreover, it is known that, on his voyages, he fought the French several times and took prisoners.

In 1521, he returned and founded a trading post in Itamaracá. Amaral [1958] considered this the possible source of the sugar mentioned in the Lisbon customs records of 1526. However, it is not certain whether the sugar really came from there or whether there were cane fields before 1532.

Cane farming in the Northeast – one might add, in Brazil – seems to have begun in the lands of Itamaracá, on the edge of fresh water as well as salt water; of both waters at once. And when it later became regular, with Duarte Coelho, it was to follow the ‘lands bordering the riverbanks'”. (FREYRE, 1967, p. 20).

In 1527, Cristóvão Jacques was in Portugal and suggested to King João III the idea of returning to Brazil to begin colonization; however, the king refused this request. Three years later, in 1530, he sent the expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa with the aim of establishing a colony and beginning the process of effective colonization of Brazilian territory. As a result, this expedition marked the start of a new phase in the Portuguese occupation of Brazil, focused on growing sugarcane and exploiting natural resources.

It is important to mention that regular expeditions left Portugal for Brazil every year to cut brazilwood, explore the coast and defend the land, mainly against the French, although the Spanish also passed through during this period.

The expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa

In 1530, the king of Portugal, João III, appointed the nobleman and soldier Martim Afonso de Sousa to an important mission in the Portuguese colony of Santa Cruz.

This expedition would mark a turning point in the history of Brazil, although the colony would only be officially called Brazil a few years later.

However, there were already unofficial references to the name Brazil among sailors, largely because of the brazilwood trade, which had become one of the main products exploited at the time.

The mission of Martim Afonso de Sousa aimed not only at defending the territory, but also at organizing the colony and creating settlements. In addition, it aimed to begin the cultivation of sugarcane, which would become one of the main economic activities of the new colony.

On January 31, 1531, Martim Afonso de Sousa and his expedition were off Cape Santo Agostinho, already on the coast of Pernambuco.

As soon as they encountered French ships, they gave chase and captured three: one was burned, another was sent to the kingdom loaded with brazilwood, and the third was incorporated into the fleet, which was on its way to the Río de la Plata.

In Bahia, they were welcomed by Diogo Álvares, known as Caramurú. Meanwhile, Pero Lopes de Sousa, Martim Afonso’s brother and author of the Diário de Navegação (Navigation Diary), observed that the Bahian women “were very beautiful and had nothing to envy those of Rua Nova in Lisbon” (Diário de Navegação, ed. de E. de Castro, Rio, 1927, p. 154).

Continuing to Rio de Janeiro (p. 174), where they stayed for a while, they landed and explored inland: “the people of this river are like those of the Bay of All Saints, except that they are a more gentle people”, reports Pero Lopes (PEIXOTO, 1944, p. 86).

Martim Afonso de Sousa and his men went as far as the Río de la Plata. However, in 1532 they returned north and landed on the island of São Vicente (now on the coast of São Paulo).

There, he chose the site to found the colony’s first town, the Vila de São Vicente. On that occasion, sugarcane seedlings were also planted and the captaincy’s first mill was built: the Engenho do Governador (Governor’s Mill). Later, after it was bought by the Flemish Schetz family, it became known as the Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos.

In the same year, the Vila do Piratininga was founded with the support of João Ramalho, a Portuguese exile in the region who had become the son-in-law of the chief Tibiriça. The town of Piratininga lay inland, toward the plateau.

Years later, the Vila de Santos and the Vila de Santo Amaro were founded.

Without a doubt, these foundations were important milestones in the expansion of Portuguese colonization and in the development of agriculture, especially sugarcane, which would become one of the main export products of colonial Brazil.

The Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos, in São Vicente

The sugarcane brought to Brazil came originally from Madeira (according to Gabriel Soares, it first came from Cape Verde to Ilhéus). It was fundamental to setting up the first sugar mill, the Engenho dos “Erasmos”.

This mill, which became prosperous, belonged to a firm of rich men from Flanders, led by Erasmo Schetz, whose overseers are mentioned by Anchieta. Meanwhile, in the future Vila de Santos, next to São Vicente, Braz Cubas set up the first monjolo, or small mill, for processing grain.

The hereditary captaincies

Two years after the founding of the Vila de São Vicente, King João III decreed the creation of the Hereditary Captaincies in Brazil. This system divided the coast into 15 lots, distributed to 12 donatários (lord-proprietors). They were responsible for colonizing the land and developing agriculture and livestock, as well as for continuing to explore the forests in search of riches.

Therefore, this captaincy system played a crucial role in organizing Brazilian territory. It encouraged colonization and economic exploitation, especially the cultivation of sugarcane, which would become one of the main products of the colonial economy.

Duarte Coelho and the first sugar mills of Pernambuco

In 1535, the donatário of the Captaincy of Pernambuco, Duarte Coelho Pereira, founded the first sugar mill of his captaincy, which, according to tradition, was called Engenho Velho (Old Mill). This mill was established near the Vila de Olinda, which he founded soon after arriving in the captaincy granted to him in 1534.

The Engenho Velho marked the beginning of large-scale sugar production in the region. As a result, it consolidated Pernambuco as one of the main sugar centers of colonial Brazil.

In addition, the choice of Olinda as the site for the town was strategic, given its access to the sea and its privileged position in relation to the surrounding farmland.

The founding of this mill was a significant step for the economic development of Pernambuco. Moreover, it played a crucial role in strengthening the Portuguese colonial system, which relied on exploiting natural resources and on agricultural production, especially sugarcane, which would become the basis of the colonial economy.

See also Pernambuco Sugar Mills: History from Beginning to End

For Amaral (1958), the importance of Brazil as a new sugar hub was abundantly clear. In fact, by 1535, in the Vila de São Vicente, there were already more than three mills, only three years after the founding of the first.

“Since the charter of King Manuel and afterwards, as João Lúcio de Azevedo observed, ‘the privilege granted to the donatário of being the only one to build and own mills and water-powered engenhos shows that sugar farming was what was especially in view’.”

In the same vein, the regulations and laws concerning the colony were drawn up: that of Tomé de Sousa, which exempted the mill owner from seizure for debts; and those of the governors of Pernambuco, guaranteeing privileges to those who built or rebuilt mills; as well as the half-nobility granted to all who became mill owners (AMARAL, 1958, p. 328).

Tea, coffee and chocolate: European demand for sugar

In Europe, between the end of the 16th century and the middle of the 18th century, sugar was in high demand. At the same time, drinks such as coffee, spread by the Arabs and Turks, and tea, brought from Asia by the Portuguese and Dutch, began to spread across Europe.

Since not everyone liked to drink tea or coffee plain, many preferred to add sugar or mix it with milk. In addition, chocolate, which was beginning to be made in Europe, required a lot of sugar to sweeten the bitter taste of cocoa.

Keep in mind that chocolate was a luxury item for a long time. Tea and coffee, on the other hand, only began to become popular at the end of the 17th century in some countries, while in others this happened from the 18th century onward.

After chocolate became widespread, it was coffee, whose use spread from 1650, that was one of the products that most contributed to the expansion of sugar, since it is well known that the consumption of coffee requires that of sugar in a weight at least equal to it” (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 173).

The Iberian Union and the Dutch invasions

To get an idea of how valuable sugar became between the 16th and 17th centuries, it is worth highlighting two examples of international factors that influenced its importance, especially before its decline in the 18th century.

The first example concerns the fact that, in 1580, with the death of the king of Portugal, Henrique I (1512-1580), the throne was left without heirs, because the king was a cardinal and had no children.

His predecessor, Sebastião, died young and also left no descendants; as a result, the throne was vacant.

In this context, several candidates emerged to claim it, one of them being the king of Spain, Philip II (1527-1598).

Philip II imposed his claim, even by force of arms, and was acclaimed king of Portugal at the Cortes of Tomar in 1581, becoming Philip I of Portugal. Thus, he became the most powerful and richest king in Europe and the West.

After all, he held the prosperous silver mines of Potosí, in Upper Peru (now Bolivia), and he now also controlled the lucrative sugar production of Brazil.

Thus, for 60 years, Portugal and its colonies were under Spanish rule, a period known as the Iberian Union (1580-1640).

The second example occurred in the 17th century, when sugar became such a valuable commodity that the Dutch decided to create the West India Company (1621) to handle business in the Americas.

In 1624, the Dutch attacked Salvador, then the capital of Brazil. Although they managed to occupy the city, they were expelled the following year. Even so, they did not give up; five years later, in 1630, they returned, this time against Pernambuco.

Between 1630 and 1654, that is, for 24 years, the Dutch occupied part of Northeast Brazil (see Dutch Recife). During this time, they controlled the sugar production of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Itamaracá and Rio Grande, among other captaincies, which were the main producers of this much-coveted “white gold”.

According to a report by the Dutchman Adriaen van der Dussen, completed in 1639 for the West India Company, Pernambuco, Itamaracá, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte had at least 166 mills.

Although there are now doubts about the accuracy of this count, Dussen’s report remains one of the best records of this period of Brazilian history.

Brazilian sugar dominated the trade in this product between 1600 and 1700, as Barlaeus already recorded in the work he wrote in 1660, at a time when it was the most important article of international maritime barter. There was still no large-scale shipping of grain, fuel, manufactured and metal goods; the Industrial Revolution had not yet arisen”. (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 179).

2. Development of sugarcane cultivation in Colonial Brazil

Land, Water and Forest contributed to the development of sugarcane cultivation in Brazil.

Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) and the Jesuit priest José de Anchieta (1534-1597) even said that one of the main factors behind the development of sugarcane cultivation in Brazil was not exactly the tropical climate, similar to that of southern Asia. Rather, it was the regularity of the rains and the fertile soil known as massapê or massapé.

Massapê soil is a dark, sticky soil (because it is rich in clay). It is also rich in humus, which gives it its fertility.

In Brazil, massapê is often cited as one of the most fertile soils, alongside the so-called “terra roxa“ (“purple earth”), which in reality has a reddish tone (the name comes from the Italian rossa, “red”). In turn, terra roxa results from millions of years of decomposition of basaltic rocks.

“Terra roxa” and massapê are considered the most fertile soils in Brazil, and both were exploited: massapê mainly for sugar, and terra roxa mainly for coffee.

Massapê is accommodating. It is a gentle soil even today. It does not have that grating of the sand of the backlands, which seems to repel the boot of the European and the foot of the African, the hoof of the ox and the horse, the root of the Indian mango tree and the shoot of the cane, with the same disgust as someone repelling an affront or an intrusion.

The sweetness of the massapê lands contrasts with the grating of the terrible rage of the dry sands of the backlands.” (FREYRE, 1967, p. 7).

Water and rivers

In the sugarcane Northeast, water was and is almost everything. Without it, a crop so dependent on rivers, streams and rain would not have prospered from the 16th to the 19th century; a crop so fond of rich, moist lands and, at the same time, of the sun.” (FREYRE, 1967, p. 19).

It is also important to mention that, in addition to the water-related factors mentioned above, Brazilian mills were powered by water or by animal traction.

Although the Portuguese already knew windmills, which the Moors had brought to Portugal and Spain centuries earlier, such mills were not used for the cane fields in Brazil.

Therefore, we see mills near rivers, streams or channels built to carry water to turn the waterwheel.

They required, therefore, a great deal of transport of cane, firewood and the finished product.

Given the difficulties of getting around and the risk of attacks by the natives, people avoided moving away from the coast, and the mills were preferably established in the coastal strip, along small rivers, where boats were used for transport services; soon, however, it became necessary to use the ox cart and to resort to the draft team.” (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 149).

“Along the branch of the river they call Afogados, there are numerous mills from which the Portuguese usually ship their crates of sugar in boats, along the river, or in carts, to Barreta, and from there carry them in barges to Recife and Olinda.” (NIEUHOF, 1682, p. 24).

Proximity to Africa and Portugal

Another factor was distance. The Northeast was closer to Africa, from where enslaved Africans began to come to work in the fields. At the same time, it was also closer to Portugal.

Although there were cane fields in Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Vicente, these places were much farther from Portugal, and this hurt the sugar trade. Moreover, the soil there was less fertile than the dark massapê soil of the northeastern coast.

As a result, sugar production in the south was geared more toward the domestic market, although also toward the African market, because it was closer to go to Africa than to Europe.

However, there were ships that, despite the distance, still sailed to Portugal carrying sugar.

The forest and the devastation of the Atlantic Forest

The availability of wood was also important for the development of the plantations. This is ironic, since much of the Atlantic Forest was cut down or burned to make room for the cane fields. Yet it was from these dense, green forests that the wood came for building houses, chapels, mills, waterwheels, grinding mills, carts, tools, furniture and boats. In addition, it served as firewood for the furnaces.

“The impoverishment of the soil, in so many parts of the Northeast, as a result of erosion, cannot be attributed to the rivers, to their eagerness to run to the sea carrying the richness of the land, but mainly to monoculture.

By devastating the forests and using the land for a single crop, monoculture let the other riches dissolve in the water and be lost in the rivers.

The fact is also linked to the destruction of the forests by fire and axe, in which monoculture went so far to excess. Thus, that almost astringent vegetation along the riverbanks disappeared, the vegetation that resisted the waters in the rainy season, not letting them carry away the marrow of the land: preserving the humus and the sap of the soil.” (FREYRE, 1967, p. 22).

The drama that took place and still takes place in the Northeast did not come from the introduction of cane, but from the brutal exclusivism into which, out of greed for profit, the Portuguese settler slipped, encouraged by the Crown in its already parasitic phase.

Of this drama, one of the most cruel aspects was the destruction of the forest, which meant the destruction of animal life and possibly changes in climate, in temperature and certainly in the water regime. (FREYRE, 1967, p. 46).

3. Cane Fields and Slavery

So far, we have seen the journey of sugarcane across half the world until it reached Brazil, and how this product was in the spotlight in early modern Europe, which is why it was so sought after and profitable. We have also seen how natural and geographical factors favored the development of sugarcane, driven by a monoculture economic policy (called plantation by the English), which aimed at large estates worked by slave labor.

However, as we will see below, not all cane fields were large estates. There were also small and medium-sized properties that grew cane and took it to the mills to be ground.

In other words, there was a relationship between these small and medium producers and the senhores de engenho (mill owners), something that is not usually taught in schools.

Sesmarias and large estates

With the start of colonization, the donatários received from the monarch the right to grant sesmarias (land titles) so that settlers could establish themselves on the lands of their captaincies.

The grants were, as a rule, very large, with lots measured in many leagues. This is understandable: land was plentiful, and the ambitions of those pioneers, recruited at such cost, would obviously not be satisfied with small properties; it was not the position of modest peasants that they aspired to in the new world, but that of great lords and landowners. Besides this, and above all because of it, there is a material factor that determines this type of landholding.

Sugarcane cultivation was economically suited only to large plantations.

To clear the land properly (a costly task in this tropical and virgin environment, so hostile to man), the combined effort of many workers was necessary; it was not an undertaking for small isolated owners.

Once this was done, the planting, harvesting and transport of the product to the mills where sugar was prepared only became profitable when carried out in large volumes. Under these conditions, the small producer could not survive. (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 19).

Prado Jr [1981] and Furtado [2005] pointed out that wage labor on these large estates was not an economically viable option for several reasons:

• First, the Portuguese population was small, and much of the part that could work in agriculture had to remain in the mother country, or was on the islands, or was serving in the trade with Africa and Asia;
• Second, it would be necessary to hire workers from other countries; however, wages would have to be very good to convince a farmer to leave his land and move with his family to the other side of the ocean, to a region considered “savage” by Europeans;
• Third, the large amount of labor needed, added to the costs of the voyage and of wages, would make the project unviable, because building a mill was already quite expensive at the time.
• Fourth, the settlers who went to Brazil went in search of wealth and glory, so that they could then return to their countries. Therefore, the final and most viable solution was to resort to slavery.

Indigenous slavery

To work on these large estates, the Portuguese initially enslaved the Indigenous people. However, once they realized the true intentions of the Portuguese, the Indigenous people began to rebel.

The so-called “tame” ones ended up agreeing to work for the Europeans, but in other tasks. Meanwhile, the more resistant ones preferred to flee into the forests, returning to their villages, and began to fight the Portuguese. In addition, the religious orders began to intervene with the government, protesting against the use of Indigenous people in the cane fields. They argued that the Indigenous people should be catechized and used in other tasks.

Even so, Indigenous slavery in Brazil lasted until the 19th century, and hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people were killed. Because the Indigenous people increasingly opposed forced labor in the fields and, moreover, had no experience with that kind of work, the solution was to bring slaves from Africa.

They even went so far as to give them weapons, including firearms, which was strictly forbidden, for understandable reasons. Moreover, if the Indigenous man, nomadic by nature, had got along more or less well with the sporadic and free work of extracting brazilwood, the same did not happen with the discipline, the method and the rigors of an organized and sedentary activity such as agriculture.

Gradually, it became necessary to force him to work, keep close watch over him and prevent his escape and abandonment of the task he was engaged in. From there to slavery pure and simple was only a step.

Not even 30 years had passed since the start of the effective occupation of Brazil and the establishment of agriculture, and Indigenous slavery had already become widespread and firmly established everywhere.

African slavery

Africans already had more experience with plantations and animal husbandry. Furthermore, the system of slavery on that continent was more developed than among the Indigenous peoples of Brazil.

In addition, the Portuguese had already been using Africans in the cane fields of Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and even Madeira and the Azores. Moreover, contact between Portugal and some African nations, such as the Kongo, already went back several decades. Therefore, it was not difficult for the Portuguese to obtain slaves in Africa, because slavery was already practiced and known there. Although the treatment of slaves differed among African peoples, the slavery imposed by the Europeans became more abusive and aggressive.

However, although captives were plentiful in Africa, transporting these men and women was not easy. It made the voyage costly and dangerous and, all things considered, in the end the price of a slave rose a great deal. Depending on age, physique, appearance and location, the value of slaves varied.

The process of replacing the Indigenous worker with the Black worker would continue until the end of the colonial era. It would happen quickly in some regions: Pernambuco, Bahia. In others, it would be very slow, and even imperceptible in certain poorer areas, such as the Far North (Amazon), and in São Paulo until the 19th century.

Against the Black slave, there was a very strong argument: his cost. Not so much because of the price paid in Africa, but as a result of the high mortality on board the ships that carried them.

Poorly fed, packed so as to make maximum use of space, enduring long weeks of confinement and the worst hygienic conditions, only some of the captives reached their destination.

It is estimated that, on average, only 50% arrived alive in Brazil; and of these, many were crippled and unfit for work.

The value of slaves was thus always very high, and only the richest and most flourishing regions could afford it”. (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 23).

Just as the Indigenous people rebelled against slavery, the Africans did the same. The quilombos and mocambos (communities of escaped slaves), as well as several revolts and rebellions, were the response of these men and women to the abusive and wicked slavery imposed by the modern Europeans. Nevertheless, African slaves became the solution to the colony’s demand for labor.

Consequently, African and Indigenous slavery became the mainstay of the colonial economy for four centuries. After all, we must remember that in lands far from the main ports where African slaves arrived, access to them was difficult; therefore, the option was to use Indigenous people as slaves. In fact, in the Captaincy of São Vicente (now the state of São Paulo), Indigenous slavery exceeded African slavery.

4. Types of Sugar Mills

1. Alçaprensa or alçaprema

• Power source: Human
• Description: Used in small mills (engenhocas) to make rapadura or cane spirit for local consumption. In addition, they could produce small amounts of sugar for household use.

2. Almanjarra, trapiche, molinote, atafona or ox mill

• Power source: Animals (usually oxen or, in some cases, horses)
• Description: Used on large plantations, they were therefore essential for grinding sugarcane on a larger scale.

3. Water mill or royal mill (engenho real)

• Power source: Water (waterwheel)
• Description: Considered the most efficient for many centuries, because of their ability to operate continuously and in large volumes.

4. Banguê

• Power source: Animal or water
• Description: Name given to the traditional mill, especially in the Northeast. In the 19th century, the term came to distinguish these old mills from the central mills and steam-powered factories (usinas), which eventually replaced them.

5. Entrosa

• Power source: Human
• Description: A small mill driven by three wooden rollers.

6. Gangorra

• Power source: Human
• Description: A small manual wooden mill with two cylinders.

7. Fogo-morto

• Description: Literally “dead fire”, a term used to refer to a mill that is no longer operating.

Considerations

• Terminology: It is important to note that terms such as almanjarra, trapiche and banguê can have other meanings. Therefore, it is important to use expressions such as “engenho de trapiche” or “engenho-banguê” to avoid confusion.
• Availability of resources: The spread of water mills in Brazil was due to the abundance of rivers and streams, as well as the initial scarcity of cattle. After all, using oxen required larger pastures and suitable corrals.

Antonil and the name “engenho”

The quotation from André João Antonil highlights the importance and complexity of the mills in sugar production. In addition, it reflects on human ingenuity (in Portuguese, engenho) and on the skill involved in building and operating these systems.

Whoever called the workshops where sugar is made engenhos (feats of ingenuity) truly got the name right. For whoever sees them, and considers them with the reflection they deserve, is obliged to confess that they are among the chief offspring and inventions of human ingenuity, which, with its small portion of the Divine, always shows itself admirable in its way of working… (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 13-14).

Thus, these observations reveal the intrinsic relationship between production techniques, the available labor and the environmental conditions in colonial Brazil.

In Brazil, it could not be so; the expenses of the colonial installations, on their virgin lands and in a hostile environment, with all the necessary equipment for defense, cultivation, transport and shipping, were so great that, in the early days, setting up the so-called small mills was not justified.

Hence, from the outset, medium-sized mills were built, producing over three thousand arrobas a year, which then developed further through the construction of installations producing over ten thousand arrobas.” (AMARAL, 1958, p. 329).

5. Structure of a Sugar Mill in Colonial Brazil

In rural terminology, the word engenho came to refer to the so-called Casa de Engenho (mill house), where the cane was ground and sugar, rapadura or cane spirit were produced. In addition, it also came to refer to the entire estate itself, that is, the whole agro-industrial complex involved in growing cane and preparing sugar.

Estrutura de um Engenho de Açúcar no Brasil Colônia

“Its central element is the engenho, that is, the factory proper, where the installations for handling the cane and preparing the sugar are brought together. The name ‘engenho‘ was later extended from the factory to the whole property with its lands and crops: ‘engenho‘ and ‘sugarcane estate’ became synonyms.” (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 23).

The mill was a true settlement, requiring not only many hands, but also the necessary lands for cane fields, woodland, pasture and food crops.

Indeed, besides the mill house, the dwelling house, the senzalas and the infirmaries, one had to count on about one hundred settlers or slaves to work some 1,200 tarefas of massapê (of 900 square fathoms), as well as the pastures, fences, vessels, utensils, iron, copper, teams of oxen and other animals.” (SIMONSEN, 1937, p. 149).

What would a sugar mill be like in the century of the discovery? The same thing still described by Saint-Hilaire in the 19th century. Fernão Cardim describes it:

Each of them is an incredible machine and factory; some are undershot water mills, others are overshot water mills, which grind more and at lower cost; others are not water mills but grind with oxen, and they are called trapiches; these have much greater works and expense, and although they grind less, they grind all year round, which the water mills do not, because sometimes they lack water.

In each of them, as a rule, there are six, eight or more white households and at least 60 slaves, who are required for the ordinary service; but most of them have one hundred and two hundred slaves from Guinea and from the land.

The trapiches require 60 oxen, which grind in relays of 12 at a time; the task usually begins at midnight and ends the next day at three or four o’clock in the afternoon. In each task, a boatload of firewood with 12 layers is consumed, and it yields 60 fôrmas (sugar molds) of white, mascavado, soft and high-grade sugar. Each mold holds a little more than half an arroba, although in Pernambuco they already use large molds of one arroba.” (AMARAL, 1958, p. 329).

The parts of the sugar mill, according to Gilberto Freyre

In his books Casa-grande & Senzala (1933), Nordeste (1937) and Açúcar (1939), Gilberto Freyre pointed out that the main structures of an engenho (here in the sense of an estate) were:

1. casa-grande (big house);
2. senzala (slave quarters);
3. chapel;
4. cane fields and food plots;
5. the mill, that is, the sugar factory, which we will see in detail in section 6.

To learn more about who lived in each of these parts, see also sugar society in colonial Brazil.

1. Casa-grande

First of all, the casa-grande was the home of the senhor de engenho and his family. The name “big house” was no exaggeration, because they really were true mansions. However, these mansions only began to become luxurious from the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the casas-grandes were not so luxurious; in fact, they were even built of wattle and daub, rubble stone and lime, with straw or thatch roofs. Freyre points out that, by the 19th century, we already notice more expensive and luxurious materials in the construction and decoration of these houses.

Being a mill owner is a title to which many aspire, because it brings with it being served, obeyed and respected by many. And if he is, as he should be, a man of means and of good management, being a mill owner in Brazil may well be esteemed as highly, proportionally, as titles are esteemed among the noblemen of the kingdom.

For there are mills in Bahia that yield their owner four thousand sugarloaves, and others a little less, with cane bound to the mill, of whose yield the mill takes at least half, as with any other cane freely ground there; and in some places, even more than half.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 19).

2. Senzalas

On the other hand, the senzalas were the dwellings where the Black slaves lived. Moreover, they were places with very poor accommodation and unhealthy conditions. In many cases, the slaves slept with their feet shackled to prevent attempts to escape or fights among themselves, because slaves were expensive goods.

The senzalas were long buildings, because they housed 20, 50 or more slaves, depending on the mill owner’s fortune to buy labor. According to Fernão Cardim, quoted above, each mill had at least 60 slaves, and many had as many as 100 or 200.

In addition, there was no division into rooms; men, women and children slept in the same place. In front of the senzalas stood the so-called tronco (stocks) or pelourinho (whipping post), a place used to punish or “educate” the slaves, as it was said in the 16th century.

3. Chapel

The chapel was a religious and governmental necessity. Since Portugal was a Catholic nation, with an overwhelmingly Catholic population — because the Indigenous people and Africans were converted to Catholicism — Catholic Christians had to attend Sunday Mass, go to confession with the priest, have their children baptized, receive catechism, confirmation and marriage, and take part in the liturgical days, etc. Because the estates were far from the towns and cities, it was necessary to take the word of God to the faithful; hence the large estates had chapels and chaplains.

Besides being the clerical representatives on these estates, the chaplains were also responsible for educating the children of the mill owner.

In the case of a boy, when he reached adolescence, he would be sent to another school in the town or city or, if appropriate, he would go to Portugal to study at the universities in Lisbon or Coimbra. However, this practice of sending sons to Portugal only became more common in the 18th century. Before that, few mill owners sent their sons to Europe, because, for them, whatever their sons needed to learn they could learn right there, so that they could manage the estate.

4. Beyond the Cane Fields

Besides the cane fields, which were the main plantations of the mill, there were other small crops, because one cannot live on sugar alone.

On the large estates, and even on medium and small ones, we find the crops or roçados (food plots), to use a Brazilian term for them.

The roçados or roça mainly grew cassava, from which flour was made (cassava eaten raw carries a risk of poisoning; hence the need to make flour to remove the poisonous substance).

Because for a long time there were no wheat plantations in the colony, only the rich could import wheat flour to make bread, cakes, pasta, etc. However, even the rich who disliked the high prices of wheat flour had to make do with cassava flour. Therefore, cassava flour was the staple food of colonial society, and it was even used to feed the slaves and animals.

These food plots were created to guarantee the slaves’ food supply. At first, there were no food plots at the mills; as a result, mill owners depended on buying food in the towns, cities or on other estates. Over time, however, we already notice these food plots on the large properties.

Besides cassava, these crops included other plant foods such as legumes, beans, rice, corn, potatoes, bananas, oranges, lemons, pineapples, mangoes, jackfruit, etc. They were tended by slaves or by free people.

Besides the mill owner, his family and the chaplain, there were other free men and women who did various kinds of work. Some worked in sugar making, as will be seen later; others worked as overseers, supervising the slaves. They also worked as artisans, blacksmiths, boatmen, fishermen, cowhands, herdsmen, potters, etc.; in addition, they tended the food plots and acted as messengers, informal doctors, etc.

On the estates, there were henhouses, corrals, pigsties, stables, workshops, potteries, storehouses, and houses for the free residents or for slaves who had won the right to have a family.

At the trapiche mills, on the other hand, the corrals were larger to house the oxen and cows used to turn the mill. In addition, pasture was needed to feed the cattle. However, on the large cane estates, it was problematic to set aside land for pasture, and people also had to keep watch so that the cattle would not eat the cane.

Apart from this, the engenho represents an autonomous economy; for the slaves, cloth was woven right there; the family’s clothes were made within it; food consisted of fish caught from jangadas (rafts) or, otherwise, of oysters and shellfish gathered on the beaches and in the mangroves, of game caught in the woods, of poultry, goats and pigs toward the South, and toward the North, mainly sheep, raised at home — hence the ease of sheltering unexpected guests and the colonial hospitality still so characteristic today of little-visited places.

As for dairy cows, there were few corrals, because they made neither cheese nor butter; little beef was eaten, because of the difficulty of raising cattle in places unsuited to their breeding and because of the drawbacks for farming resulting from their spread, which reduced this livestock to what was strictly necessary for agricultural work.” (BRANDÃO, 1956, p. 6).

There were mills powered by water and by oxen; served by carts or boats; located by the seaside or farther away, though not much, because the difficulties of communication only allowed arcs of limited radius; there were mills capable of producing more than ten thousand arrobas of sugar and others unable to yield a third of that amount. Let us imagine a schematic mill for the sake of comparison — the existing mills differed more or less from the scheme, as is natural.

It had to have large cane fields, abundant and nearby firewood, a numerous slave force, a capable team of oxen, various equipment, grinding mills, copper vessels, molds, purging houses and a still; it had to have trained staff, because the raw material went through several processes before being delivered for consumption; hence a certain very imperfect division of labor, and above all a certain division of production.

The product was shipped directly overseas; from overseas came payment in money or in goods given in exchange, and these were not many: fine fabrics, drinks, wheat flour, in short, mostly luxury items.

As a luxury, they could buy their provisions from less well-off farmers, and this was usual in Pernambuco, so much so that among the grievances of the people of Pernambuco against the Dutch was that they had been forced by them to plant a certain number of mounds of cassava. (BRANDÃO, 1956, p. 6).

Cane farmers and “fazendas obrigadas”

Before moving on to the next part of this text, it is important to point out that the mill owners could lease part of their land to tenants. In addition, they also received the produce of smaller farmers to be ground at their mill.

Although the owner, as a rule, works his lands directly (as explained above), there are frequent cases in which he leases parts of them to lavradores (cane farmers) who take care of cultivation and produce cane on their own account, while being obliged, however, to grind their produce at the owner’s mill.

These are the so-called fazendas obrigadas (“bound farms”); the farmer receives half of the sugar extracted from his cane, and also pays a certain percentage as rent for the land he uses, which varies according to time and place and ranges from 5 to 20%.

There are also the free farmers, owners of the land they occupy, who have their cane ground at whatever mill they choose; they then receive the full half share.

The cane farmers, although socially below the mill owners, are not small producers of the peasant category. They are owners of slaves, and their farms, whether on their own or on leased land, form, like the mills, large units.” (PRADO JR, 1981, p. 23).

As Caio Prado Júnior pointed out, the mill owners cooperated with some farmers who worked part of their land, or who, if they owned their own land, supplied cane to be ground at their mills.

This practice is old. In fact, before the middle of the 17th century, the Dutchman Adriaen van der Dussen mentions in his aforementioned report that many of the mills did business with tenants, that is, with these free farmers. Thus, in his report, he uses the terms “partido da fazenda“ and “tarefa“.

In this case, the first term refers to the mill owner, while the second refers to the farmers who supply cane to be ground at the mill.

In exchange for lending his installations to grind other people’s cane, the mill owner kept a percentage of these “tarefas“. However, the farmers were responsible for transporting the cane to the mill and for collecting the sugar.

6. Making Sugar

1. Mill house
2. Boiling house
3. Purging house
4. Sugar Drying Process
5. Recipe for Purging Sugar
6. Weighing and Crating the Sugar
7. Salaried Workers Involved in Sugar Production

We usually study the macro context of sugar production; however, the stages of sugar making are left out. Therefore, in this topic, I set out to describe how sugar was made, and also to show the sections of the sugar mill or casa de engenho (mill house).

An interesting fact is that Antonil [1711], who reported on sugar production in the 18th century, tells us that many of the workers in the sugar mill were women, as will be seen below. One of the reasons is that women were thought to be more attentive, while the men did the heavier work in the cane fields and in transport.

However, it should be mentioned that this was not uniform, because Antonil wrote from the perspective of the early 18th century. The essential thing to know is that it was the slaves who did the bulk of this work, although there were also free workers involved in sugar production.

Celso Furtado [2005] pointed out that one of the reasons for Portugal‘s success in developing the sugar agribusiness was its investment in developing equipment and techniques for making sugar.

He explains that in the 14th and 15th centuries, sugar making was known throughout the Mediterranean. In this case, however, the Genoese and Venetians were the main experts in these techniques and in producing equipment; therefore, they held a certain monopoly over sugar-making techniques.

It is also interesting to note that from the 15th to the 17th centuries, the Dutch, Flemish and Belgians specialized in refining sugar, because the mills did not do this refining. The elites did not want to consume dense, dark, hard sugar; instead, they wanted white, fine and crystalline sugar, hence the need for refining.

“From the middle of the 16th century, Portuguese sugar production increasingly became a joint enterprise with the Flemish, initially represented by the interests of Antwerp and then by those of Amsterdam. The Flemish collected the product in Lisbon, refined it and distributed it throughout Europe, particularly the Baltic, France and England.

The contribution of the Flemish — particularly the Dutch — to the great expansion of the sugar market in the second half of the 16th century is a fundamental factor in the success of the colonization of Brazil. Specialized in intra-European trade, much of which they financed, the Dutch were, at that time, the only people with enough commercial organization to create a large-scale market for a practically new product, as sugar was” (FURTADO, 2005, p. 20).

The sugar mill was basically divided into three parts: the mill house, the boiling house and the purging house. In addition, each of these stages represented a phase of sugar making. In the case of making cachaça and rapadura, there are differences after the second stage, something I will come back to briefly later on.

1. Mill house

This room housed the moenda (grinding mill), a machine made of wood with rollers. These were moved by a gear mechanism driven by human, animal or water power, and they crushed the cane, squeezing it hard and thus forcing the juice out. Then this juice was collected in pans and taken to the next stage. Antonil [1711] considers the mill house the most dangerous stage, because there was a risk that a slave might get a hand caught and be pulled in by the arm through the rollers. As a result, the slave would be crushed and could lose the arm or even die.

The danger was doubled by the fact that the mill ran day and night, as already mentioned. Consequently, tired slaves, worn out by the hard day, could fall asleep; hence the need to always keep several people in the room to prevent tragedies like these.

The place of greatest danger in the mill is the grinding mill, because if by misfortune the slave woman who feeds the cane between the rollers, whether from sleepiness, or from being tired, or from any other carelessness, inattentively puts her hand further in than she should, she risks being ground between the rollers, unless they immediately cut off the caught hand or arm, for which purpose a machete is kept beside the mill, or unless they are quick enough to stop the mill by diverting with the sluice gate the water that strikes the buckets of the wheel, so that they may quickly give the sufferer some kind of remedy.

And this danger is even greater at night, when they grind just as by day, even though the women who feed the cane take turns in their shifts, particularly if those doing this work are newly arrived (boçais) or used to getting drunk.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 54).

How many oxen and slave women worked at the grinding mill

As mentioned, the most efficient grinding mills were those powered by water, generated by waterwheels, although they were the most expensive. In the case of trapiche mills, however, several oxen were used to drive the trapiche that turned the grinding mill.

For example, depending on the mill, eight, ten or twelve oxen could be used at a time for each work cycle. Moreover, Dussen [1947] and Amaral [1958] point out that the grinding of the cane sometimes took the whole day, continuing into the night and the early morning, so as to avoid wasting time.

The slave women needed at the grinding mill are at least seven or eight, namely: three to bring cane, one to feed it in, another to pass back the bagaço (bagasse), another to trim and light the lamps, of which there are five at the mill, and to clean the juice trough (which they call cocheira or calumbá) and the gudgeons of the mill and cool them with water so that they do not overheat, using for this the water vat under the wheel, filled from the water that falls on the gudgeon, as well as to wash muddy cane; and another, finally, to throw out the bagasse, either into the river or onto the bagasse heap, to be burned in due course.

And if it is necessary to dump it farther away, one slave woman alone will not be enough, but another will be needed to help her, because otherwise it could not be cleared in time and the mill would be clogged”. (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 54-55).

It is important to stress that, depending on the period, the shape and size of the grinding mills varied. Therefore, we cannot speak of a uniform machine, because at first they were made by hand, although they followed certain specifications in their proportions.

2. Boiling house

This was probably the most dangerous place to work, because of the risk of getting burned or starting a fire, although Antonil disagrees with this opinion, as already shown here.

Gilberto Freyre even said that in this part of the mill, the slaves worked under close watch and could even be chained, because they might try to sabotage production, spill the pans or start a fire.

In Antonil’s words, the boiling house, or furnace house, was compared to a “small volcano“; in any case, it really was a very hot and stuffy place. Some scholars prefer to separate the boiling house from the furnace house, because they point out that they were different places. However, this depends on which period they are referring to.

Thus, in this wing of the mill were the copper boilers, which were used to boil the juice. Dussen [1947], who wrote in the 17th century, mentions that the mills had 4, 5 or 6 large pans, and 3 to 4 smaller pans.

The juice was boiled in the large pans, and in the smaller pans it was left to cool before going on to the next stage. These pans were imported from the mother country, because there were no forges in the colony capable of producing such equipment.

The pans and the stages of boiling

As already mentioned, the boiling house had several pans. Let us now get to know them, because they carried out the boiling of the cane juice stage by stage:

• Clarifying boiler: in the first mills, the juice was mixed with lime to help filter out impurities before it went on to be boiled;
• Juice boiler: the pan that received the juice coming from the mill house;
• Middle boiler: the pan where boiling began and the first and second skimmings were removed; these contained impurities such as bits of leaves, stalk, cane bagasse, etc.;
• Syrup boiler (caldeira de melar): boiling continued here, and the third skimming was removed and taken to the skimmings vat. In addition, garapa was also made here;
• Syrup vat (parol de melar): after being boiled and skimmed, the juice was placed here to be strained;
• Straining vat (parol de coar): receives the juice to be strained. The term “tempering” is also used for this stage;
• Receiving pan (tacha de receber): after being strained, the juice was stirred, skimmed, boiled and treated with lye, that is, water with ashes was added to help filter out the remaining impurities;
• Door pan (tacha de porta): after the juice had been skimmed, strained and treated with lye, it continued to be boiled;
• Cooking pan (tacha de cozer): the juice continues to boil and here it reaches its “point”. This is the last boiling stage, because from here the so-called molasses is set aside to begin the resting and cooling stage;
• Beating pan (tacha de bater): the molasses is beaten with a beater to reach the crystallization point, thus becoming thicker and more doughy;
• Dividing basin (bacia de repartir): after being beaten, the molasses was “relieved”, a term used for transferring the molasses from the previous pan to this one. From here, it was taken to the cooler, where it would rest and cool;
• Skimmings vat (parol de escuma): the place where the foam from the three skimmings was deposited to be reused.

Here I have set out the main stages. However, depending on the period, we will notice new stages and pans used in filtering the juice, because the process received new techniques over the course of History.

In the boiling house worked some free men called caldeireiros (boilermen), who were responsible for checking the “sugar point”, that is, the exact boiling temperature.

Antonil [1711] mentions that in this section of sugar making most of the workers were men. However, there was a slave woman called the “calcanha” who was responsible for cleaning the room and lighting the lamps. She also collected the second and third skimmings and put them back into a parol (a kind of vat), because this foam had other uses.

Tools of the boiling house

Besides the pans, vats and boilers, other tools and containers used at this stage were:

• Beater (batedeira): similar to the skimmer, but without holes. It was used to beat the molasses after it had finished boiling.
• Mug (caneca): a container used to pass the juice from one pan to another.
• Ash tank (cinzeiro): a square tank where hot water was mixed with ashes to be used for the lye treatment in the receiving pan.
• Spoon (colher): a large spoon with holes, used to stir the molasses after boiling.
• Ladle (concha): a long-handled iron ladle used to taste the juice.
• Skimmer (escumadeira): a kind of spoon with many holes, used to remove the foam.
• Mold (fôrma): a clay vessel where the molasses was placed to begin purging.
• Transfer ladle (passadeira): a large spoon used to transfer the boiling juice to the next pan.
• Scraper (picadeira): an iron lance used to remove the remains of syrup stuck to the pans, vats and boilers.
• Pomba or reminhol: a large spoon used to remove the molasses from the last pan. It was also used to add water to the lye.
• Cooler (resfriadeira): a tank where the molasses rested and cooled before being poured into the molds.

These tools and containers were commonly used in sugar production. However, by the 19th century, we already find other utensils and machines used in this process, such as centrifuges, filters, skimmers and evaporators, reflecting the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century.

The juice, initially light green or yellowish in color, becomes after boiling what is called mel-de-cana, mel-de-engenho, mel-de-furo or molasses. It is a brownish substance rich in sucrose, carbohydrates, iron, etc.

Besides being used to make sugar, molasses is also used to make cachaça, rapadura, rum, syrups, etc.

The clay molds and the sugarloaf

The clay pots, also called fôrma (mold), pão-de-açúcar (sugarloaf) and sino-de-mel (honey bell), were conical or pyramid-shaped containers with a hole at the tip. During the purging stage, the remaining molasses drained out through this hole and was collected in the jarra de castela, a basin that gathered this molasses to be reused.

“The sugar molds are vessels of clay fired in the tile kiln, and they bear some resemblance to bells, three and a half spans high and proportionally wide, with a larger circumference at the mouth and narrower at the end, where they are pierced so that the sugar may be washed and purged through this hole” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 75).

In the space of 24 hours, an ox-powered mill makes 20 to 30 molds, a water mill 40, 50 or 60, and 40, 50, 60 or 70 molds or more if the mill is able to grind a lot of cane and if the cane is rich in sugar, which depends, as already said, on the weather and on the care taken in cultivation.

The mold holds one arroba of sugar if the sugar is more or less good; if it is inferior, less. The best sugar weighs more, and a mold can hold 40 pounds or more, up to 50 and 60“. (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 94).

To understand these figures: the Portuguese arroba was worth 32 arráteis, about 14.7 kg. The pound used by Dussen, on the other hand, the Amsterdam pound, weighed about half a kilo. Thus, a mold of 50 to 60 pounds held roughly 25 to 30 kg of sugar, that is, close to two arrobas.

3. Purging house

Antonil, writing in the 18th century, tells us that the casa de purgar (purging house; to purge means to remove impurities) was usually separate from the sugar mill. In addition, it was sometimes the largest room, because that was where the sugar was stored to be purged, as will be seen below.

He tells us that in Bahia and Sergipe there were large purging houses made of stone, lime and maçaranduba wood. These houses would have had more than 200 square meters of floor space. They would have been true sheds with several windows, so as to allow good air circulation and let in light; as a result, together with the heat of the sun, this would help the sugar dry faster.

In this large space, rows of scaffolds (andaimes) were set out, where the sugarloaves were placed. This account is interesting because, unlike Dussen and Barléu, who refer to Pernambuco, here we have an example from Bahia.

In the purging house are the shelves into which the molds fit and where they rest. On each shelf, 10 to 12 molds are placed, with 8 to 10 shelves side by side, and under each of them are the receptacles for the molasses.

This set is called an andaime. Thus, each andaime holds about 100 molds, and in a purging house there are 20, 25 and 30 andaimes, allowing 2,000 to 3,000 molds to be stored.” (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 94).

As mentioned earlier, sugar production varied depending on the size of the mill and the power source used to drive the grinding mill. The example given by Dussen comes from a mill in Pernambuco that he visited in the 1630s, a period when the Dutch controlled the region.

These clay molds had a conical or pyramid shape to make it easier for the remaining molasses inside the container to drain out. This was important because this molasses gives the sugar a dark color, resulting in what is known as raw sugar, more commonly called açúcar mascavo or açúcar mascavado.

Mascavo sugar has a tone somewhere between caramel, light brown and dark yellow; moreover, it tastes different from white sugar.

How long purging took

Inside the molds, Dussen says, the sugar rested for six to eight days. Meanwhile, it was tapped with a small hammer so as to compress it more and more, in order to squeeze out the remaining molasses through the hole at the bottom tip. Antonil [1711], however, mentions a period of 3 to 15 days to wait for the sugar to purge.

Antonil also says that sugar that hardened but did not become brittle was called “cara fechada“ (closed face), while sugar that became brittle was called “cara quebrada“ (broken face). Therefore, greater attention had to be paid to the pots of brittle sugar, because this meant that they had not dried properly.

“The hole of these molds, at first plugged, keeps the sugar curdled and moist; then, when opened, it lets the molasses through to purge the sugar. Afterwards, the face of the mold is covered with clay, because it is believed that, by repeating this operation several times, the impurities are expelled more completely and the sugar becomes whiter.” (BARLÉU, 1940, p. 95).

Besides this mechanical technique of compressing the sugar, a thin layer of clay or mud was poured on top. It slowly mixed into the sugar and, in turn, the clay absorbed the molasses. This stage was carried out on the purging counter and at the trough, where the tendal was located, a space used for setting the molds.

“In front of the door of the purging house, on six pillars, rises a porch eighty-two spans long and twenty-four wide, under which is the mascavar counter; and on the other side is the Trough for kneading the clay that is put in the Molds to purge the Sugar; and farther on, the Counter for drying it, eighty spans long and fifty-six wide, supported by twenty-five brick pillars.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 78).

Antonil tells us that four women worked in the purging house. They were responsible for preparing the clay molds for the sugar, and they also washed them.

First, the four slave purging women, using iron diggers, dig out the already dry sugar in the middle of the face of the mold (which is the upper part), and then level it again and pack it down very well with mallets; they then put on the first clay, taking it with a reminhol from the pans that came full of it from its trough, already kneaded to the right consistency, and with the palm of the hand they spread it over the whole face of the mold, two fingers thick.

On the second or third day, they pour on top of the same clay half a reminhol or a gourd and a half of water; and so that it does not fall on the clay all at once and, in falling, make holes in the sugar, they catch the water on the left hand, held close to the clay, pouring it with the right hand evenly over the whole surface; and then, with the palm of the right hand, they lightly stir the clay, so that their fingers do not touch the face of the sugar.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 83-84).

Dussen mentions that, depending on the case, two to three layers of clay were applied in order to make the sugar purer and whiter.

Mascavar: separating white sugar from mascavado

“Once the sugar is free of its molasses, it is brought out of the purging house, removed from the molds and put to dry in the sun on spread-out cloths; the sugar that is still mixed with molasses is then removed. The Portuguese call this ‘mascavar‘, by which they mean that they remove the grey mask from the sugar, and that is why they also call the greyish sugar ‘mascavado‘.” (DUSSEN, 1947, p. 95).

At the mascavar counter, two Black women, among the most experienced, who are called mothers of the counter, attend; together with others, they do the mascavar and separate the inferior sugar from the better; there are also some Black men who bring and loosen the molds and take the sugarloaves out of them, and the kneader of the purging clay, who is also another Black man.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 79).

At the foot of the counter, which they call the mascavar counter, the molds are loosened on a hide, which means moving them gently with their mouths turned toward the said hide, so that the loaves come out well; these are placed one after another by a Black man on an awning cloth spread on this counter, and by the hand of a Black woman (whom they call the mother of the counter), all that badly purged, brownish sugar on their lower part is removed with a machete; and this is called mascavar, and this sugar is then called mascavado.

Meanwhile, another of her companions, one of the most skilled, removes with a small axe the moistest part of the same mascavado, which they call the pé da forma (foot of the mold) or cabucho, and this goes back to the purging house in other molds until it has finished drying; and then other Black women break the lumps of mascavado with toletes (wooden mallets) on an awning cloth, which must also go to the drying counter.” (ANTONIL, 1711, p. 87).

The sugarloaves were unmolded on the aventador, a wooden shelf located at the mascavar counter. As Antonil described, the mascavado sugar was scraped off and separated from the white sugar, which then went on to a final drying stage. The white sugar was taken to the area called the drying counter, where it would spend a few hours exposed to the sun.

Some of the tools used at this stage, according to Antonil’s description, were:

• Digger (cavador): made of iron, used to dig into the sugar in order to place the clay or mud.
• Machete (facão): used to scrape off the mascavado sugar after the purging phase.
• Iron borer (furador de ferro): used to pierce the tip of the sugarloaf, thus allowing the molasses to drain during the purging phase inside the pots.
• Mallet (macete): a kind of hammer used to pound and compress the sugar inside the pots.
• Hatchet (machadinha): used to scrape off the mascavado sugar.
• Piece of leather: a piece of hide (usually cowhide) used to settle the sugar inside the pots.
• Rake (rodo): used to turn the sugar when it is laid out to dry on the awning cloths.
• Tolete: a kind of hammer for breaking the sugarloaves. Because of the loaf’s conical shape, it also helps to divide the loaf into parts called “caras” (faces), starting from the top down to the tip.

Each “face” of the sugarloaf had a different quality:

• Tapered Tip: Considered of inferior quality, because it had more impurities and lower sugar purity.
• Upper Faces: Generally of superior quality, with greater purity and less molasses; therefore, they were more highly valued on the market.

4. Sugar Drying Process

At the drying counter, the same two mothers of the counter, accompanied by up to ten companions, were in charge of spreading the awning cloths and breaking the chips and large lumps of sugar into smaller pieces. The sugar, taken out of the molds, was placed on pilheiras (wooden platforms) to dry. Part of the sugar dried on the pilheiras, while another part was spread directly on the awning cloths, exposed to sunlight. In fact, this practice was also common in drying coffee and cocoa.

The slaves spread the sugar over the cloths and used rakes to turn it over, thus ensuring even drying. Each cane farmer was responsible for bringing his own cloths and slaves to dry his share of the production. Meanwhile, the mill owner often met with tenants or farmers to supervise the sugar drying in the sun. The cloths were arranged in rows to indicate the production of the “partido da fazenda“ and of the “tarefas“.

5. Recipe for Purging Sugar

Barléu describes an alternative technique for purging sugar and making it whiter, using additional agents during the boiling process:

“Thus, a lye of quicklime and egg whites is poured into the more impure sugar, and, stirring without stopping, the juice is skimmed, cleaning it of impurities. When it threatens to boil over, this is prevented by adding a little butter.

They then strain it through a coarse cloth or tow, while all the lye has not yet been absorbed, to catch any dregs that may remain, letting it boil again until the lye is used up. Then they pour it, as if reborn, into the molds, and the faces of these are covered with purer clay. When this dries like a crust, more is added a few more times, for the same purpose as before, and a thicker and more impure molasses drains out again.” (BARLÉU, 1940, p. 74-75).

6. Weighing and Crating the Sugar

After this stage, while it was still drying, portions of the sugar were put on a scale to be weighed, so that the mill owner, the cane farmer and the caixeiro (crate master) could quantify their shares. Antonil [1711] tells us about some of the instruments used in this phase of weighing and storing the sugar in crates:

At the Weighing station, scales, two-arroba weights and other smaller ones, such as the one for the tare; shovels and panacûs (baskets). In the Crating room, pestles, a rake, a settling stick, which some call the moleque de assentar and others the juiz, an adze, augers, hammers and nails.

A crowbar for pulling nails from the crates, and the clamp (gastalho), used to bring together split or open boards by driving two wedges between the sides of the board, and the teeth and jaws of the clamp, which grip from above and come down the sides; and the iron brands with which the quality of the sugar, the number of arrobas and the officer of the Mill are marked and declared.” (p. 80).

After being weighed, the sugar was loaded with shovels into the crates, which were lined with clay, and banana leaves were placed on top of it. If cane farmers had been involved in the process, they brought their carts and slaves to collect their sugar after it had been weighed by the caixeiro. Besides the white sugar being weighed and divided, the mascavo sugar also went through this process. Moreover, in the midst of this division there was also a third share, the Church tithe. For this, a specific official called the tithe contractor came to collect 10% of the production of both the “partido da fazenda” and the “tarefas“.

Antonil [1711] draws attention to the fact that, when the sugar was being placed in the crates, in what was called the “cara de caixa“ (face of the crate), that is, sugar ready to be sold, the sugar was not pounded to compact it in the crates. This was because pounding could be used as a trick: lower-quality sugar could be put at the bottom of the crate and covered with good sugar; however, the gross weight of the “cara de caixa” would then be bad sugar.

After the crates were filled, a club called the “pau de assentar“ or “moleque de assentar“, as already mentioned by Antonil, was used to pack down the sugar so that it fitted properly inside the crate and the lid could be nailed shut. Finally, all the lids were closed with nails.

The marks on the sugar crates

After the crates were closed, they received the mark that designated the type of sugar because, as already mentioned, besides white and mascavo sugar there were other variations, called “faces” (I will come back to this later). On this subject, Antonil left us some details:

• “Male” white sugar (branco macho) – the crate was marked with a single B.
• Beaten white sugar (branco batido) – the crate was marked with a double BB.
• “Male” mascavado sugar (mascavado macho) – the crate was marked with an M.
• Beaten mascavado sugar (mascavado batido) – the crate was marked with an MB.

In addition to these marks identifying the type of sugar, there were three more marks, which were either branded with a hot iron or painted.

• The arroba mark: branded on the lid with a hot iron, it identified the weight of the crate.
• The mill mark: it was branded with a hot iron in the lower right corner of the lid. It designated the mill where the sugar had been made. If the owner was a religious body or a trading organization, however, the crate bore the seal or initials of that order or organization.
• The mark of the planter or the merchant: it could be branded or painted. If branded, it was placed in the center of the lid; if painted, on the side of the crate, where the name of the owner or of the buyer was written.

Once all the crates had been marked, they were taken to the port. The royal mills (engenhos reais) could use the rivers to carry the crates on barges. In general, however, ox carts were used to transport these crates, which weighed as much as six arrobas, that is, about 88 kilos.

However, Amaral [1958] reports that throughout colonial history the weight of sugar crates varied, so that one can find crates weighing anywhere from six to fifty arrobas. Mello [2012], for his part, states that in the first half of the 17th century the average weight of sugar crates was 30 to 35 arrobas (equivalent to roughly 440 to 515 kilograms).

7. Salaried Workers Involved in Sugar Production

Although the slaves carried out many activities, certain trades were practiced by free people. Some of them have already been mentioned, but now I will focus on those specifically linked to sugar production:

• Head overseer (feitor-mor): he was responsible for managing the mill. It was his job to supervise every activity at the mill, from cutting the cane to loading the sugar. He checked the stocks and made sure that all the slaves were doing their work properly; if necessary, he also reassigned them to other tasks. If a slave fell ill, the head overseer sent him for treatment and put another in his place, and he then had to inform the mill owner of what had happened. He also had to report everything that went on at the mill to the owner. The other overseers were subordinate to him. Antonil (1711) mentioned that the head overseer earned a salary of sixty thousand réis a year. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that this figure refers to the early 18th century and may not reflect the same amount over time.
• Mill overseer (feitor de moenda): he was responsible for supervising the harvest, the transport of the cane and its milling. While the cane was being crushed, he had to make sure that the slaves did not get hurt. He also had to control the process so that there was not too much juice, since it could spoil while waiting to be boiled. Antonil (1711) indicated that the mill overseer’s salary ranged from forty to fifty thousand réis a year, again a figure from the early 18th century.
• Overseer or foreman (feitor or capataz): he was responsible for watching over and punishing the slaves, protecting the estate and the cane fields, and keeping the slaves under control, thus preventing fights, escapes or idleness.
• Sugar master (mestre de açúcar): in charge of checking the quality of the soil and the location for planting the cane, he had to be able to tell where better- and lower-quality cane grew. In the boiling house, he was responsible for keeping all the workers working properly and for controlling the quality of the product, since the juice sometimes had to be boiled longer or strained again. In the purging house, likewise, he evaluated the work of the slaves and employees in that section. At large mills, according to Antonil (1711), the sugar master’s salary was around 130 thousand réis a year, although it could be closer to 100 thousand réis.
• Banker or under-master (banqueiro or soto-mestre): the sugar master’s assistant, the banker replaced the master when he was absent and kept control of sugar production in the boiling house. He, in turn, was assisted by the assistant banker or under-banker. The banker’s salary ranged from 30 to 40 thousand réis a year.
• Assistant banker or under-banker (ajuda-banqueiro or soto-banqueiro): the banker’s assistant had great responsibility in the manufacturing process, so he always had to be alert to prevent delays, losses of raw material and accidents. Antonil observed that these posts were not necessarily held by free people; in fact, they could be filled by slaves or mestizos who, even with one white parent, sometimes received not a salary but a reward instead. He was also responsible for supervising the dispatch of the sugarloaves to the purging house.
• Boilerman and kettleman (caldeireiro and tacheiro): they worked at the boilers and kettles, controlling the boiling temperature and the purification of the juice. They were responsible for checking the “point”, that is, the exact temperature at which the juice should be boiled.
• Purger (purgador): he worked on purifying the sugar in the purging house, checking the purging process and the quality of the mud or clay used. He also helped arrange the loaves on the racks and looked after the cleanliness of the room, ordering the molasses to be collected in jars for storage or reuse. According to Antonil, the purger’s salary varied according to the amount produced; for example, if 4 thousand loaves were produced in one batch, he would receive 50 thousand réis a year, while smaller amounts would be proportional to production.
• Mill clerk (caixeiro de engenho): responsible for weighing the sugar before it was crated and marked, he separated and recorded the production of the mill owner and of the cane farmers, and he passed the tithe on to the Church. He also supervised the loading of the sugar into the crates and helped with transport to the port, checking the shipment of the product. The clerk’s salary ranged from 30 to 50 thousand réis a year, depending on the size and output of the mill.
• City clerk (caixeiro da cidade): he differed from the mill clerk because he acted more as an accountant, contractor, agent and trustee. Thus he handled the mill’s finances and negotiations, as well as the hiring of ships and the dealings with buyers. He received an annual salary of around 40 to 50 thousand réis.

7. Types of Sugar

It has already been mentioned here that there were several types of sugar, because when the “faces” of the sugarloaf were divided, each “face” had a different quality. In addition, mascavo sugar itself also came in different types.

There are different nomenclatures for this sugar typology; however, I will present here the terms used by the Portuguese, since the Spanish, Italians, Dutch, French, English, etc., use other terminologies.

1. White sugar

Although it resembles the sugar we normally use today, there were some differences in the Early Modern period. Antonil [1711] said that white sugar had several classifications according to its quality:

• Fine (fino): it was the whitest, densest and heaviest, and it came from the first “face” of the sugarloaf. It was considered the best quality.
• Round (redondo): it was less dense and heavy, it usually came from the second “face”, and so it was also considered second quality.
• Low (baixo): it was brownish in color and came from the third “face”. Despite its color, it was still considered of fair quality, though inferior.
• Beaten white (branco batido): it was made from the molasses that drained off during the purging stage; this molasses was boiled again and then beaten. Antonil says that it sometimes turned white and full-bodied, hence the name “beaten white”.

The fine, round and low white sugars were called “male” sugar (açúcar macho), because they were well purged, pure and of excellent quality.

2. Mascavo sugar

It was also called mascavado, pés and cabucho. It was considered of lower quality compared with white sugar. As we have seen, mascavo sugar is brownish in color, contains a larger amount of molasses, and is neither well purged nor refined. For this reason, it was used in preparing food, and even in making rapadura, garapa, cachaça, rum, etc.

• Male (macho): made from the leftovers of “male” sugar. When the sugar was taken out of the mold, its crust was scraped off, which separated it from the white sugar, and this crust was mascavo sugar.
• Beaten (batido): made from the leftovers of beaten white sugar.
• Molasses (mel): mascavo sugar made from the molasses of the purging. It was also used to make beaten mascavo or to make garapa and cachaça.
• Re-molasses (remel): made from the molasses drained in purging beaten white sugar. If beaten, it could become beaten mascavo; it was also used to make garapa and cachaça.

3. Skimming sugar

It was made from the foam skimmed off during the boiling of the juice. It was dark in color and was used to make garapa, as well as being given as food to the slaves and the animals.

• Neta: made with the first foam.
• Rescuma: made with the second foam.
• Nata: made with the third foam. It was beaten and crystallized.

4. Sugar by region

Gaspar Barléu, writing in the 17th century, noted that sugar received certain names depending on where it came from. Here, then, we have another kind of nomenclature:

• Madeira: from the island of Madeira.
• Canaries: from the Canary Islands, an archipelago owned by the Spanish.
• Meli: from a small island off the west coast of India, under the control of the Portuguese.
• São Tomé: from the island of São Tomé, a Portuguese possession in Africa. Barléu tells us that this sugar was of inferior quality and was therefore used to make syrups, preserves, medicines, etc.
• Antilles: from the Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In this case, it was produced by the Spanish, Dutch or French, depending on which island it came from.
• Azores: from the Azores.
• Cape Verde: from Cape Verde.

There were other places, but I will mention only these, the most important ones. However, the name Brazilian sugar or Brazil does not appear in the books I used to write this text.

5. Other types of sugar

• Mixed Sugar: it was formed from the mixture of different sugars that had been improperly transported in crates.
• Pot Sugar (açúcar panela): the syrup that dripped off during the boiling process was collected in pots and was not purged. It was of low quality and dark in color. Because it was sold in pots, it got this name.
• Candy Sugar (cândi or cande): refined and crystallized white sugar, used to sweeten drinks and food and to prepare medicines.

Here I have presented some types of sugar and the names used for them between the 15th and 18th centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, on the other hand, we see new nomenclatures; but since the focus here is sugar production in the Brazilian colonial period, I will stick to these examples.

8. Sugarcane Juice, Garapa, Rapadura and Cachaça: Definitions

1. Sugarcane Juice

• Definition: Sugarcane juice is the raw material for producing sugar and other by-products, and it can also be drunk on its own.
• Consumption: The juice is extracted by crushing the cane and, today, it can easily be found at snack bars in Brazil and in other countries of Latin America and Asia. It is rich in sucrose and has a nutritional profile that includes vitamins and minerals.

2. Garapa

• Definition: A regional term that, in some parts of Brazil, refers to sugarcane juice. Historically, however, it designated a sweet, low-quality drink made from the foam produced during sugar making.
• Historical use: Drunk by slaves and low-income people, garapa was mixed with water and sometimes with cashew leaves, so that it became an energizing drink, often used at festivities.

3. Rapadura

• Definition: A sweet made from cane molasses, with a flavor similar to mascavo sugar and rich in minerals such as iron and calcium.
• Origin: Rapadura is believed to have been invented in the 16th century and then became popular, especially in Northeast Brazil, as an energy-rich food with a long shelf life.
• Varieties: Today there are many versions of rapadura, including different flavors such as milk and chocolate, which has broadened its acceptance and consumption.

4. Cachaça

• Definition: Cachaça is a spirit (aguardente) made by distilling fermented sugarcane juice, and it is considered a national drink of Brazil.
• Origin of the name: The term “cachaça” may derive from “cachaço”, referring to a low-quality drink, or from “cachaza”, a low-quality wine drunk on the Iberian Peninsula.
• Production: Initially made from foam and molasses, cachaça improved in quality with the introduction of distillation techniques in the 16th century; as a result, it became popular among all social classes.
• Historical impact: Cachaça came to be used as a currency of exchange, especially in the slave trade between the Portuguese and some African peoples.

Final Remarks

Sugarcane juice and its by-products not only play an important role in the Brazilian economy, but are also an integral part of the country’s food culture and social life.

Products such as garapa and rapadura represent a link between agricultural production and everyday life, while cachaça stands out as a symbol of national identity and a reference in drinking culture.

Understanding these products, therefore, gives a broader view of the cultural and historical practices surrounding sugarcane in Brazil.

9. Origin of Rum

Rum appeared in the Caribbean islands around the beginning of the 17th century. The exact place is still debated, with suggestions including Barbados, Cuba and Jamaica, among others. At first, the molasses left over from the mills was thrown away or given as food to the animals or to the slaves. Once it was discovered that, when fermented and distilled, it yielded an alcoholic drink, people began to invest in rum.

The oldest words for this drink come from the English and French languages. In English, there was the expression “kill-devil“, because at the time rum was presented by some as a kind of medicine, supposedly able to drive out evil spirits.

This fact is interesting because, if the reader remembers that sugar itself was once used as a remedy, this aspect is not strange at all. English also had the term “rumbullion“. The French, on the other hand, used guildive and tafia. The word “rum” began to become more common after the middle of the 17th century, when the drink had become popular. The first official mention dates from a 1661 document from Jamaica, issued by the island’s governor at the time.

Like cachaça, rum came to be used as a barter currency. It was used in trading for slaves in Africa, and even in dealings with Amerindians, exchanging rum for food, animal skins, timber, etc.

Rum became not only a prized drink and supposedly a medicine, but also a valuable currency of exchange throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries, so much so that there was smuggling of this drink. In fact, pirates became famous for smuggling it, hence the association between pirates and rum.

In general, rum is made from fermented molasses that is then distilled, which gives it a high alcohol content and a clear color. The version made directly from sugarcane juice, such as the rhum agricole of the French Antilles, only spread later. Pure rum is clear or slightly yellowish.

The more yellow, caramel and brown colors, by contrast, come from the aging of the drink or from the addition of coloring. Today there are several types of rum, and it is used as the base for some kinds of cocktails; there is even rum syrup, used to make cakes and sweets.

Important Notes

1. Drinks made from sugarcane juice or its molasses did not originate in the Early Modern period, since there are accounts of some kinds of drinks made in India and China using sugarcane as their base.
2. In Brazil, cachaça is the base ingredient of the famous cocktail called the “caipirinha”.
3. Gaspar Barléu briefly mentions in his book that the Romans learned of sugarcane on their journeys to the Middle East and already mentioned its medicinal use, although they were not interested in growing it.
4. At the beginning of the 18th century, cachaça and rum were banned in some countries and colonies, because they were outcompeting the wine produced by the mother countries. However, because of smuggling, the ban was lifted.
5. Another product that can be made from sugarcane is ethyl alcohol or ethanol, used mainly as fuel in the automotive industry.
6. In Brazil, the traditional mills began to be replaced by central mills and industrial plants (usinas) from the end of the 19th century, a process that was completed during the 20th century. Even so, modern mills linked to the production of sugar, cachaça and rapadura can still be found today.
7. Between 1660 and 1661, in Rio de Janeiro, the Cachaça Revolt (Revolta da Cachaça) took place, in which the mill owners protested against an abusive increase in taxes on the drink.

10. National Museum of Sugar and Alcohol

A significant part of the history of sugarcane processing, still one of the pillars of Brazilian agribusiness today, can be seen and learned about in Pontal, in the Ribeirão Preto region.

There you will find the National Museum of Sugar and Alcohol (Museu Nacional do Açúcar e do Álcool), run by the Instituto Engenho Central, which belongs to the Biagi family.

The collection is displayed in the Engenho Central (Central Mill), built in 1906, one year before the town became an independent municipality.

The museum‘s collection includes machinery made in Europe between 1876 and 1888, such as seeders, supply pumps, barrels for processing and purifying sugar, containers for transporting spirits, the identification stamp for the sugar sacks and the clock that stood in the mill’s tower.

The Engenho Central belonged to the planter Francisco Schmidt, the Coffee King, who produced sugar for export to the German company Theodor Wille, based in Hamburg. Before belonging to the mill, the machines had been owned by another planter, Henrique Dumont, father of the aviator Santos Dumont.

The Biagi family bought the farm in the 1960s, and the mill went on producing until 1974.

After the death of Maurílio Biagi, his son, Luiz Biagi, decided to keep the mill and create the Institute in order to give shape to the museum.

The project was supported by incentive laws for culture.

Before visiting, check the opening days, hours and admission conditions directly with the museum, since they may change.

Frequently asked questions about the sugar mill in colonial Brazil

What was a sugar mill in colonial Brazil?

At first, the engenho was just the factory where the cane was crushed and the sugar was made. Over time, however, the name came to designate the whole property: the cane fields, the casa-grande, the senzala, the chapel, the food plots and the factory itself.

What was the first sugar mill in Brazil?

In general, the first mills are considered to have appeared in São Vicente after 1532, with the expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa. Among them, the Engenho do Governador stands out; it was later called São Jorge dos Erasmos, and its ruins still exist in Santos. Shortly afterwards, from 1535 onwards, Duarte Coelho also set up mills in Pernambuco.

What were the parts of a sugar mill?

First of all, there was the casa-grande, where the mill owner lived, and the senzala, where the enslaved people lived. In addition, there was the chapel, the cane fields, the food plots and the factory, which in turn was divided into the mill house, the boiling house and the purging house.

How was sugar made at the mill?

First, the cane was crushed in the mill to extract the juice. Next, the juice was boiled and cleaned in the kettles of the boiling house until it became molasses. Then the molasses went into clay molds in the purging house, where it lost its impurities. Finally, the sugar was dried in the sun, weighed and crated for export.

Who worked at the mills?

Above all, enslaved Africans and, at the beginning, also enslaved Indigenous people. However, there were also free and salaried workers, such as the sugar master, the overseers, the purger and the clerk, as well as cane farmers who planted cane and brought it to the mill to be crushed.

What was the difference between white sugar and mascavo sugar?

White sugar was the well-purged part of the sugarloaf and, for that reason, it was worth more. Mascavo, on the other hand, was the dark part, with more molasses, which was scraped off the loaf and was therefore worth less.

Why was sugar called “white gold”?

Because, from the discovery to independence, sugar earned Brazil more than all the other export products combined, including the gold from the mines. Moreover, in Europe it was for centuries a luxury item and even a medicine.

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