Legal slavery was present in Brazil for approximately three centuries, with the earliest known landing of enslaved [[African people|Africans]] taking place 52 years after the Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot in Brazil in 1500.<ref name="Kent" /> The demand for enslaved Africans continued to increase through the 18th century, even as the Brazilian [[sugar]] economy ceased to dominate the world economy. In its place, commodity crops such as [[tobacco]] increased in prominence.<ref name="Schwartz 1970 313–333">{{cite journal |last=Schwartz |first=Stuart B. |title=The "Mocambo": Slave Resistance in Colonial Bahia |journal=[[Journal of Social History]] |date=Summer 1970 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=313–333 |doi=10.1353/jsh/3.4.313}}</ref>
During the sugar boom period (1570–1670), the sugar plantations in Brazil presented hellish conditions, even including the personal brutality of some enslavers and the whip-wielding overseers in their employ. Physical torture was common for minor infractions. There was high physical exertion on workers, especially during harvest season. In addition, enslaved people were held to nearly-impossible daily production quotas while having to contend with lack of rest and food. Economically, in sugar plantations, it was cheaper for owners of enslaved Africans to work them to death and get new replacement enslaved people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The plantation economy {{!}} West Indies {{!}} The Places Involved {{!}} Slavery Routes {{!}} Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery {{!}} PortCities Bristol|url = http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/routes/places-involved/west-indies/plantation-economy/|website = discoveringbristol.org.uk|access-date = 2016-01-18}}</ref> Conditions were so bad that even the Crown intervened on at least two occasions, forcing plantation owners to provide the people they enslaved with sufficient food.<ref name="Schwartz 1970 313–333" />
