Brazil's Affluent Neighborhoods Where the Rich Live

 OMG, the festival vibes were on when the mills began grinding in late July or early August after being blessed and calling on the saints for protection35. It was all about the harvest, or safra, you know? During the safra, the cane was completely cut during daylight hours, but the mills began grinding at 4 p.m. and continued until 10 a.m. the next day, so they were working for about 18 to 20 hours per day. So intense, right? The work was going on in shifts, you know? The slaves quickly found the grind of work to be extremely exhausting. Israel da Costa described their service as "totally lit." "Sleepy AF like an engenho slave" was a very common expression, and "industrial accidents" were extremely common. 

In Bahia, the safra was going strong until the heavy winter rains in May made the mas-sapé impossible to cross, lowering the sucrose content of the cane. 

The engenhos ran for about 270-300 days a year, but they had to stop occasionally for religious reasons, repairs, or when they ran out of cane or firewood, so it was reduced by about one-third, you know? The Church said, "Yo, engenhos gotta chill on Sundays and holy days," but a bunch of senhores de engenho were like, "Nah, we ain't about that religious life." Those obligations accounted for approximately 3/4 of the days we missed, man. In 1592, João Remirão spilled the tea during the Inquisition in Bahia. The engineers said, "Yo, the cane needs to be milled within 24-48 hours of being cut, and the juice needs to be processed as soon as possible. So, the mills can't stop without disrupting the work from the days preceding and following religious observance, do you get it?" OMG, as if the Jesuits and the Church had completely dismissed these self-serving arguments, but the fact that so many senhores de engenho continued to complain demonstrates that they were completely disregarding the Church's rules. SMH. The extra long safra gave Brazil a significant advantage over its Caribbean competitors, whose harvest season lasted only about 120-180 days on average. It also made sugar production in Brazil ideal for slayin' because there was virtually no "dead time" between the milling cycle and the planting period. 

Slaves could be working nonstop in some part of the sugar production process, you know?

The key to the harvest cycle's success was cane field preparation. Sugar cane takes 14-18 months to mature after planting, followed by 9-10 months for second growth or rattoons. The senhor de engenho, or OG overseer, had to be able to exert control over the planting and cutting of the cane so that each field belonging to the engenho and those cultivated by dependent cane farmers, or lavradores de cana, could be cut at the right time and there was never too much or too little cane at the mill. Cane that was not cut at the proper time produced less sugar, and once cut, the juice of the cane would quickly dry or turn sour if not processed. So, regulating and managing the operation of the field and factory required a lot of skill and experience, you know? A skilled sugar boss (mestre de açúcar) who understands the ratios and volumes of each activity is essential for success. The mill or "engenho" (from which the estate's name was derived; the term "plantation" was never used) was powered by either water wheels or animal traction. Because of the exorbitant costs of building a waterwheel, holding tanks, and an aqueduct or levada, those who used water power had a significantly higher productive capacity. According to Ambrósio Fernandes Brandão, author of Diálogos das grandezas do Brasil (1618), setting up an engenho can cost around 10,000 cruzados ($4,000), not including construction costs.

This job was typically lit AF, but even in the 16th century, there are references to mills where this position was already being filled by slaves as mill owners attempted to flex and save money.

In the fields, slaves yeeted the cane with their hands. Plows were rarely used in sugar cultivation in Brazil, likely due to the massapé soils of Bahia and Pernambuco, which made them extremely difficult to use. After planting the cane, slaves weeded it at least three times. Then, during the safra, squads of 20-40 slaves were slayin' cane. They worked in pairs, with a man chopping the canes and a woman tying them into stacks. Each pair had a quota measured in "hands" (maos). Yeet! At the time of Antonil's report (circa 1689), the quota at Engenho Ser-gipe in Bahia was twelve canes in each sheaf, ten sheaves in each "finger," five fingers in each "hand" (mao), and seven "hands" or 4,200 canas per day. The lit cane was then transported to the engenho using ox carts or small boats. Many engenhos listed slave women with only one arm. Periodt. These were some tired AF women (moedeiras) who were clearly not paying attention while feeding the cana in the mill and ended up losing their limbs. Cuthbert Pudsey, an English observer who was in Brazil in the 17th century wrote, as bruh,