Enslavement

Europeans have known sugar since the 12th century. It held high commercial value and it was exclusively enjoyed by the highest classes of society. In the newly discovered Americas, the Portuguese found ideal conditions and great extensions of fertile land for the plantation of sugar-cane. The Portuguese first arrived in Brazil in 1500, and for the next 322 years, Brazil remained a Portuguese colony.

The exportation of sugar was the main source of income in the Brazilian colonies until the second half of the 1700s. The sugar-cane plantations, however, required extensive labor and, therefore, a large number of workers. Portugal’s man power consisted of African slave labor, even before the colonization of Brazil. Since the 1440s, the trade of slaves was a important source of the capital invested on maritime exploration. Thus, it was a natural step for the Portuguese to bring captive Africans to the potentially wealthy colony. The Catholic Church approved the traffic of slaves through formal documents such as the “Dum diversas” (1452) and “Romanas Pentiflex” (1455) in which Rome declared imprisonment a form of spiritual purification for those, non-believers.

For a long time, the Portuguese had contact with Tupi tribesmen, natives of Brazil. These natives helped the colonizers adapt to the new land. However, it wasn't long before they were brought into work on the plantations. Initially, their labor was exchanged for items such as mirrors and glasses. Soon after, whips were applied to force them into slavery. Though, Natives were protected from slavery when willing to submit to the church. The enslavement of natives was subject to protections influenced and supported by the Catholic Church, even though Jesuits exploited them into work as well, under the promise of salvation. Because of the low demographic density of natives within the vast territory of Brazil, the apprehension of natives was also difficult. The native population of Brazil is estimated, at the time, to around a million inhabitants on the coast. Today, their population consists of a few individuals scattered over the country and a few tribes living within protected areas.

The first acquisition of slaves took place as the Portuguese attacked local communities along the western coast of Africa and areas today know as the coast of Mina, the Cabo Verde islands, the reign of Benin, Angola, Congo and Mozambique. Although, institutionalized slavery was already present in Africa before the arrival of the Portuguese. As African tribes rivaled, those defeated in battle would be enslaved. With the arrival of the Europeans, important tribal leaders would negotiate their slaves. In exchange for slaves, Europeans offered fabrics, pearls, copper, black powder, foods, mirrors and glasses. Once the Portuguese begun importing from their Brazilian colonies, they also traded in alcoholic beverages and tobacco for slaves.

The traffic of slaves across the Atlantic acquired volume and rush. There was continuous need for replenishment of slaves in the plantations. The two reasons: the life expectancy of a slave was only 30 years of age and death rate among newborns was very high. Due to the conditions in which slaves were transported, in a trip that lasted months, death rate was also very high, in which case ship were overcrowded with thousands of bodies to maintain a significant profit. Eight million slaves entered Brazil until the end of the slave traffic in 1850. Africans became the most significant racial and cultural contributors to contemporary Brazil. Though, over 400’000 blacks lost their lives due to the precarious conditions during their journey across the Atlantic – their bodies, thrown in the sea. These numbers are roughly estimated.

The Origin

Although slaves were forced into assimilating European cultural elements, they also exercised an extraordinary ethno-cultural resistance. It is well accepted that Capoeira is a Brazilian manifestation of African roots. Its first written registers are mostly found within the early 1700s, two hundred years after beginning of the colonization of its lands and of the slave traffic. Capoeira is a creation of Africans while on Brazilian grounds and further developed by their Afro-Brazilian descendents. It is a resistance and a tradition – born out of a burning desire for freedom. Considered, at the time, a social infirmity, the saga of Capoeira began.

Capoeira is a synthesis of dances, fights, musical instruments, rituals, secrecies, and tradition from different cultures from African regions. It is a synthesis created on Brazilian soil as different African cultures merged with the local culture, probably in the state of Bahia, under the regime of slavery. To make organized rebellions against captivity difficult, the Portuguese colonizers mixed, on their plantations, slaves from different cultures and regions of Africa. So that, even communication, was a difficulty among slaves. Of course, with time, cultures do merge. And so rebellions arose.

It would be a mistake to say that Capoeira is a native art of Brazil without African influence. In the same manner, it would be inaccurate to suggest that Capoeira came from Africa already formed. Capoeira has not been found in any other geographic region outside Brazil, including African nations. Even further, it can’t be found within any other nation that also exploited African slave labor. The Mucupes in South Angola hold a ritual for when girls become women, on which occasions, young warriors engaged in the N’Golo – Dance of Zebras, once thought to be Capoeira itself. In 1968, it was concluded that it is, at best, one of several many dances that contributed to the creation of early forms of Capoeira. Accordingly to Mestre Celso, in his trip to the African continent, he didn’t see anything that resembles Capoeira in any of its forms.

In 1595, José de Anchieta, one of the leading priests of the Catholic mission, wrote that natives had fun playing Capoeira. The fusion of African elements to local influencing factors (native and Portuguese) gave rise to a number of cultural manifestations, among which is Capoeira. The word “Capoeira” itself comes from Tupi-Guarani, a native Brazilian language. Note also that many words, found only within the Capoeira dialect, have their origins in the Tupi language. If Capoeira has its roots set in Africa, then it has is birth and its development in Brazil.

In one prevalent theory, Capoeira was a fight that was disguised as a dance so that it could be practiced unbeknownst to the white slave owners, even though not only Capoeira, but also other African dancing suffered prohibition as cultural expressions from Africa became repressed. It was noted in early writings on Capoeira that the blacks entertained themselves by exercising their bodies as if toys.

From the Tupi-Guarani, caa-apuam-era means either “shallow grass,” “grass that has been cut short” or yet, “grass that is gone.” Though, there is etymological argumentation over the meaning of the word capoeira. We find many occurrences of the word and its variations throughout early writings. However, in each instance, it denotes a different meaning. There are references to a native Brazilian bird, Uru (Odontophors capueira-spix), among which the male birds are considered very jealous and violent. It is said that their movements resemble that of the fight. Also, there is mention of slaves who brought capoeiras [cages] of chicken to the market in the early morning. While these slaves waited for the doors of commerce to open up, they entertained themselves by playing fighting games.

Rebellion

Even though, trustworthy records that describe the practice of Capoeira were only available in the early 1800s, it is supposed that the first slave rebellions took place within the 1600s. Slaves rebelled and ran away from the plantation where they were held captive. Further, they needed not defend themselves only against their slave master’s whips at the plantations, but also against firearms in the grass fields – grass which was referred to as caápuêra. Their hands, their heads and their feet were their only weapons to defend themselves against their hunters, white slave owners.

Runway slaves escaped to the backlands, to places known as quilombos. These were communities at sites of difficult reach where slaves found refuge. In the quilombos, African descendents developed a cultural, social and political universe parallel to the one imposed on them. Within those communities, they kept alive African culture – some well preserved, while others slowly took new forms as the different African cultures merged together. A rudimentary fighting style was created in the senzalas – slave quarters at the plantations. At this time though, in the quilombos, Capoeira was practiced, further developed and strengthened. If left in the senzalas, perhaps, Capoeira would never have undergone development.

Ten major quilombos with socio-economic organization and commercial relationships existed. One of them, Quilombo dos Palmares, lasted sixty-seven years, resisting most expeditions sent to extinguish it. When the quilombos were destroyed, some of their great warriors, no longer able to stay together, scattered throughout several states of Brazil.

To be continued...