History of Colonial Latin America

Test questions for Furtado, Chica da Silva: A Brazilian Slave in the Eighteenth Century

Due 11-16-09 via WebCT

Question  1

• Brazil imported roughly 4 million captive Africans from the early 1500s to the 1850s.
• For many working on the sugar plantations of the NE coast, life expectancy was less than 10 years.
• Yet Chica da Silva, born a slave in the 1730s, died a wealthy and free woman in 1796. What factors made this possible?  [be specific!]
• What does her admittedly exceptional story reveal about colonial Brazil?

OR

Question 2

• Since 1868 and especially since 1973 (p11-12) the name Chica [Xica] da Silva represented at least two appealing myths in Brazilian history. What were those myths?
• What aspects were false, according to Furtado?
• Are there any aspects of those myths that might be considered true, based on what we know of Chica from the Furtado biography? [be specific]