La marchandisation de l’émigration française au Brésil: la Maison Beaucourt, 1857-1859

Abstract

This article examines the importance of emigration “under contract” in the establishment of a global market of labor force in the Atlantic during the 19th century. It focuses on the case of the contract signed in 1857 between the trading house Beaucourt et Cie (Paris) and the Central Colonization Association (Rio de Janeiro), and the conflicts to which it gave rise. From the initial ambitions to create a pool of labor to the denunciations of white slavery, this case illustrates the duplicity of the indenture system.

Keywords

• Brazil
• France
• migration companies
• farming colonies
• nineteenth century