Portuguese colonial cities on the Atlantic coasts: A demographic study, 1776–1809

Abstract

In this article, the author draws on “statistical maps of the population” in the Portuguese Atlantic at the turn of the nineteenth century in order to trace the demographic profile of cities in the Azores, Madeira, West Africa, and Brazil. Beginning with a reflection on what a “city” would be according to the Portuguese Crown, I then outline the proposed methodology and new demographic data on 20 cities, together with bases for comparative analyses of other non-Portuguese colonial realities. The demographic weight of the cities varied significantly between, and even within, the various Portuguese territories. 10.4% of the population of the Atlantic region lived in cities, which was roughly equivalent to the percentage rate in mainland Portugal, and, in the case of Brazil, clearly higher than Spanish America. The relatively low proportion of Europeans and the predominant presence of enslaved populations were a distinguishing feature of Portuguese colonial cities in West Africa and in Brazil. In that respect, they were similar to urban areas in the Americas that were under the control of the Spanish monarchy, but there were two key differences. Slavery in Brazil was significantly more urban in nature than in Spanish America. Secondly, Brazilian cities did not have large contingents of Indigenous populations, in contrast to Spanish American cities, reflected in the different patterns and forms of colonization employed by the two empires.