Mortality in the Far South of Brazil: Free and Slave Population in - - PDF document

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Mortality in the Far South of Brazil: Free and Slave Population in the parish of Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre, Brazil (1772 ─ 1854)

Ana Silvia Volpi Scott Dario Scott Very few studies on health, disease and death in the past have been published in Brazil in the area of historical demography. Historian demographers have paid more attention to the study of marital status and fertility than to the question of mortality, a situation that is due, among other reasons, to the fact that the under-recording of deaths was more common than that for other vital

• events. The deaths of persons were not always recorded at the parish, often because of the great

distances between the parish church and the place of death. This communication consists of a presentation and analysis of data from death records of the free and slave population between 1772 and 1854 in the territory then known as parish of Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre, in the Captaincy of Rio Grande de São Pedro (today this area corresponds approximately to the State of Rio Grande do Sul), located in the southernmost Portuguese territories in the Americas, later to become part of the Empire of Brazil. Specifically, we outline and analyze the profile of death records by legal status (free and slave population), gender, age and cause of death. This parish gave birth to the city of Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul. Therefore, it is a parish with urban characteristics. Since the period when Brazil was the Portuguese colony in the Americas and, later, during the country's imperial period (between 1822 and 1889), the norms for drawing up parish records (including those for deaths) were defined and standardized in the First Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Bahia (1707). Regarding the information to be included in death records, the Constitutions defined, in Title XLIX, that all parish churches must have a book for entering the names

• f the deceased. Said records should be entered in the book on the day of death or at least within three

days following death1. The regulations also determined the manner of drawing up entries: "On such-and-such day of such-and-such month in such-and-such year,

• N. Priest, Deacon or Sub-deacon; or N. husband, or wife, of N. widower
• r widow of N., or son, or daughter of N. in the district of N. or of such-

and-such Church, or stranger, of such-and-such age (if easily

The presented results are part of the Research Project entitled "Family and Society in Southern Brazil (1772 ─ 1872)”,

coordinated by Ana Silvia Volpi Scott. The project has financial support from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, through Selection Processes, a Productivity Scholarship.

• University of Campinas(UNICAMP) - Brazil

 University of Campinas(UNICAMP) - Brazil 1 Vide, Sebastião Monteiro da. Constituições Primeiras do Arcebispado da Bahia/feitas e ordenadas pelo ilustríssimo e

reverendissimo D. Sebastião Monteiro da Vide. Brasília: Senado Federal, Conselho Editorial, 2011.

2 determined) with all or such-and-such Sacraments, or without Sacraments, died. He or she was buried at this or that Church; left a will in which he or she determined that so many masses should be said for his

• r her soul and that such-and-such Offices be said, or died having left no

will or was known to be poor and therefore buried without fees" (Title XLIX - How entries of deaths should be drawn up, 831, p. 292).2 According to this model, records should inform, beyond legal status (separated books for free and slave population), the date of death, name and place of birth of the deceased, age, marital status or parents, whether the deceased had received the last sacraments, whether the person had left a will and had determined masses and offices to be said for her or his soul" (Title XLIX - How entries of deaths should be drawn up, 831, p. 292). Further information could also be recorded, such as

• ccupation of the deceased and, titles or military ranks (especially for the free population). Although

the Constitutions did not require the cause of death to be stated, the cause was usually mentioned in the records of some Brazilian parishes as of the late 18th century. For the Madre de Deus the cause of death was informed for almost 90% of the registers. During the nineteenth century this percentage is still higher. In any case, considering the laws set down in the Constitutions, it is clear that the quality and details of the record relied heavily on the zeal of the priest who drew it up, and the social status of the deceased and / or his/her family in local society. This meant that some entries were quite detailed while others showed serious lacunas in the information provided. But before we discuss our results we will make a brief presentation of the parish and the environment surrounding it during the period being studied. In other words, we situate that parish in the context of recent regional historiographical production, a position that has aided in the revision of some of the traditionally accepted postulates regarding the region’s colonial and imperial past.3

The “Mainland" (Continente) of Rio Grande de São Pedro

The recent historiographical production on Southern Brazil includes works that show different facets of the society that settled in the southern frontier areas in the 1700s and early 1800s. Specifically in regard to the demography of the region during the colonial period, we could recall studies by Fabio Kühn that showed compelling findings from his use of confessional rolls and extant census results for the last two decades of the 18th century. In his work, Kühn analyzes the

2 VIDE, Sebastião Monteiro da. Constituições Primeiras do Arcebispado da Bahia/feitas e ordenadas pelo ilustríssimo e

reverendissimo D. Sebastião Monteiro da Vide. Brasília: Senado Federal, Conselho Editorial, 2011. Vol. 79.

3 The production by this generation of young historians is represented in the collective work entitled Capítulos de

História do Rio Grande do Sul. See complete reference at the end. (Grijó, Kühn et al., 2004). Also of fundamental importance is História Geral do Rio Grande do Sul (5 volumes), which covers the colonial, imperial and republican periods, under the general direction of Nelson Boeira and Tau Golin.

3 formation of society in the southernmost regions of Portuguese America. One of his most significant contributions is the importance he gives to the notable presence of slaves of African origin, even since the earliest times. This perception contradicts the more traditional view which held that slave labor in those regions was relatively rare (Kühn, 2004). By making use of sources such as inventories and wills, Helen Osorio also calls attention to the complexity of society in Brazil’s southernmost areas, in her analysis of the region of Rio Grande de São Pedro between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries. Her study shows that, contrary to the view most held in traditional historiography, according to which large landholdings devoted exclusively to livestock were predominant, the reality of the populations in the region was not so

• simple. Her analysis shows that economic activities consisted of a very diverse and complex
• rganization, composed of farmers who planted as well as small landholders and shop owners who

treated and sold meat (Osorio, 2007). Figure 1 – Map of the territory of Rio Grande de São Pedro

Source: Bell, 1998, from Farinatti, 2010: 69

The results of these studies bring up questions about the demographic behavior of populations that occupied the region. Occupation was characterized by specific aspects, related to realities such as land disputes between Portugal and Spain and the experience of colonization by

4 "Azorean couples" in the mid-18th century4. The presence of indigenous populations was also an important factor. In the 1820s German immigrants began arriving and, as of 1824, in successive waves, they settled throughout the current state of Rio Grande do Sul (Gutfreind, Arendt et al., 2001). This diverse historical experience, characterized by contact among populations of varying origins (indigenous groups, the Portuguese and Brazilian population, as well as Spanish and Spanish-American populations5 and slave populations) deserves careful and systematic exploration

• f its quantitative sources. It is important not only as a contribution to the study of population and

family in these regions, but also because such research will undoubtedly serve toward developing a better understanding of the different demographic systems or regimes that characterized Brazil’s colonial past, and the first half of nineteenth century. This is one of the central research objectives

• n which this communication is based6.

The Parish of Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

The current city of Porto Alegre, one of the largest in Brazil and capital of the country’s southernmost state – Rio Grande do Sul – saw its beginnings around the Parish of Our Lady of the Mother of God of Porto Alegre (Freguesia da Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre), and this parish is the object of our study here. Among the numerous studies on the history of the City of Porto Alegre is the work coordinated by Sandra Pesavento. Her study has the objective of providing a reflection on the development of the historical and social construction of the city. It goes back to the spaces and experiences that allow readers to understand the city’s urban development, from its founding as the Parish of São Francisco do Porto dos Casais till the present day.7

4 This specific topic is being studied in a project still in its initial phase (Gentes das Ilhas: trajetórias transatlânticas dos

Açores ao Rio Grande de São Pedro entre as décadas de 1740 a 1790). This project has been undertaken by a Portuguese and Brazilian team comprised of Ana Silvia Volpi Scott (project coordinator) and by the researchers. Dr. Carlota Santos (Universidade do Minho), Dr. Paulo Matos (CHAM – Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and Gabriel Berute (Doctor of History at UFRGS).

5 Especially on the presence of Spaniards and Spanish-American individuals in the Portuguese portion of the Americas

in the 18th century, see Kühn, 2004.

6 This topic is being studied by the “Demography & History” research group, under the auspices of CNPq and

coordinated by Sergio O. Nadalin (UFPR). The group includes a dozen researchers working at institutions in both Norhterrn and Southern Brazil. See Nadalin, S. O.; Scott, A. S. V.; Vieira Jr., Antonio Otaviano; Machado, C.; Bacellar,

• C. A. P.; Andreazza, Maria Luiza; Bassanezi, M. S. C. B.; Teixeira, P. E.; Botelho, Tarcísio Rodrigues. Más alla del

Centro-Sur: por una historia de la población colonial en los extremos de los domínios portugueses en América (siglos XVII-XIX). In: Dora Celton; Mónica Ghirardi; Adrián Carbonetti. (Org.). Poblaciones históricas: fuentes, métodos y líneas de investigación,. 1st ed. Rio de Janeiro: ALAP Editor, 2009, v. , p. 137-153.

7 Pesavento, Sandra J. (ed.) 1991. Memória Porto Alegre: espaços e vivências. Porto Alegre: Ed. UFRGS/ Pref.

Municipal de Porto Alegre.

5 Sandra Pesavento suggests a chronology for developing the historical and social construction of Porto Alegre dating back to its earliest days, from small cattle farms to the Azorean

• village. The information she provides on this period are of great value for understanding the places

where people settled and the changes that characterized the area’s processes of occupation and settlement. Specifically regarding the last quarter of the 18th century, Pesavento says that, beginning in 1772 land was distributed to Azorean settlers who had arrived there. As area was reserved for the installation of the first public equipment in order to establish a civic center (called Alto da Praia, corresponding to today’s Praça da Matriz). From there the occupation of the peninsula expanded and space was provided for public needs, such as Praia do Arsenal and Beco dos Marinheiros. The Parish of Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre was a quiet village at a crossroads but soon became capital of the “Mainland" (Continente) in 1773. It was declared a “villa” in 1809 and a “township” in 1822. In addition to changes made necessary by the growth of the public administration and the occupied space, changes in the population itself also occurred. In this case we observe the growth of the population since the 1780s until 1822, although there are discrepancies among the sources consulted. In any case, our intention here is merely to illustrate the increase in population since the final decades of the 18th century until 1822, which coincides with the year of the country’s independence from Portugal. Figure 2 – Map of Porto Alegre (1822)

Source: Pesavento, 1999, p.23.

6

Preliminary Results

It is important to underline that the quality and details of the entries (death records) depended greatly on each priest's zeal, and also depending on the social status of the deceased and their families in the local society. For this reason, some were quite elaborate and others contained omissions in the information. We started with the presentation of the results dividing the population by legal status and by sex. During the period chosen for study, 28.120 deaths were recorded (15.497of free persons – 55,1% - and 12.623 for slaves – 44,9%), there having been more registered deaths of free men than free women (8.706 and 6.791 respectively); the same occurred for slaves (7.320 males and 5.303 females). Graph 1 – Death/Year / 3 years moving average

Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

There was a sustained growth in the number of deaths, related to the general increase of the population in the parish during the period studied (for instance, between 1780 and 1810 the total population of the parish increased at a rate of 4% a year, while the Capitania of Rio Grande de São Pedro, grew at a rate of 3.2% a year in the same period. The growth curve of the free and slave population obeys the same tendency. It is important to remember that the parish of Madre de Deus was subdivided into three (1832) and the impacts of this subdivision are especially visible only from the mid-nineteenth century, when the records began to be carried out regularly. In addition, it is important to draw attention to the period between 1835 and 1845, when the Farroupilha Revolution occurred, a revolt against the imperial government, which sought to separate the province of Rio Grande de São Pedro from the rest

• f the Brazilian Empire. In this period, the city of Porto Alegre was besieged between 1836 and 1840,

remaining during all the period, loyal to the Empire.

7 The general analysis of deaths by legal category, broken down by sex and age groups (according to table 01 and 02) revealed mortality impact in the initial age groups. Table 1 - Free Population - Deaths by Sex Legal Status and Age Group Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre (1772─1854)

Age Group Male Female Grand Total % Grand Total % Accum < 01 2184 1817 4001 25,8 25,8 01 - 04 1486 1410 2896 18,7 44,5 05 - 09 445 401 846 5,5 50,0 10 - 14 184 163 347 2,2 52,2 15 - 19 261 218 479 3,1 55,3 20 - 24 401 268 669 4,3 59,6 25 - 29 347 215 562 3,6 63,2 30 - 34 434 289 723 4,7 67,9 35 - 39 237 188 425 2,7 70,6 40 - 44 430 282 712 4,6 75,2 45 - 49 174 121 295 1,9 77,1 50 - 54 420 261 681 4,4 81,5 55 - 59 134 96 230 1,5 83,0 60 - 64 338 224 562 3,6 86,6 65 - 69 108 61 169 1,1 87,7 70 - 74 230 158 388 2,5 90,2 > 75 319 251 570 3,7 93,9 Not Declared 574 368 942 6,1 100,0 Grand Total 8706 6791 15497 100,0 Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

Comparing the results for the free population (Table 1) and slave population, it is interesting to note that age at death registry was higher among slaves (Table 2), as we expected. On the

• ther hand, the highest percentage of deaths of free children with less than 1 year of age is probably

due to the greater underreporting of death of slave children. In any case, mortality among the age groups up to 14 years old (for total population) reaped at least 49,1% of this contingent. The deaths in Madre de Deus were distributed on a regular basis, for both, free and slave population, throughout the year, but there was a slightly higher death rate in the autumn months of April and May (South hemisphere), increasing from March (Graph 1). The highest incidence of deaths, whether for the free or slave population, is concentrated in the winter months (southern hemisphere).

8 Table 2 – Slave Population - Deaths by Sex Legal Status and Age Group Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre (1772─1854)

Age Group Male Female Grand Total Grand Total % Accum < 01 1450 1323 2773 22,0 22,0 01 - 04 912 947 1859 14,7 36,7 05 - 09 247 307 554 4,4 41,1 10 - 14 282 256 538 4,3 45,3 15 - 19 394 244 638 5,1 50,4 20 - 24 651 382 1033 8,2 58,6 25 - 29 395 248 643 5,1 63,7 30 - 34 783 477 1260 10,0 73,7 35 - 39 132 78 210 1,7 75,3 40 - 44 662 371 1033 8,2 83,5 45 - 49 58 33 91 0,7 84,2 50 - 54 446 216 662 5,2 89,5 55 - 59 30 11 41 0,3 89,8 60 - 64 268 98 366 2,9 92,7 65 - 69 8 6 14 0,1 92,8 70 - 74 99 45 144 1,1 93,9 > 75 138 33 171 1,4 95,3 Not Declared 365 228 593 4,7 100,0 Grand Total 7320 5303 12623 100,0

Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

Graph 2 - Free and Slave population in Madre de Deus Fluctuations of deaths during the year (1772-1854)

Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

Specifically regarding causes of death, there is consensus among researchers as to the difficulty in dealing with this type of information. Although, paradoxically, causes of death cited in

9 death records are among the best health indicators for studying populations of the past, their analysis brings up serious difficulties for researchers. Most of the terms used are problematic for adequate classification, since they are often imprecise and/or written in lay terms. In addition, some records refer to symptoms rather than to the causes of death themselves. This inaccuracy is due to the limited knowledge of the parish priests or family members regarding the topic.8 To get around these difficulties we reinforced our information with medical and other dictionaries and glossaries from the specific period being studied. This measure helped clarify doubts that came up from the reading and gathering of the information contained in the death records. Among the books referred to are Vocabulario portuguez & latino, by Rafael Bluteau, and Dicionário de Medicina Popular, by Chernoviz (available online). We also received help from a medical professional. The central issue is the classification of causes of death given in the entries analyzed. A number of different typologies are used in the studies we list, but we chose to use the classification of causes of death drawn up by Bernabeu-Mestre and others, in a paper published in 2003. Maria Luiza Marcílio, studying the São Paulo Captaincy between the late eighteenth and first decades of the nineteenth century, located in the southeast region, bordering the Captaincy of Rio Grande de São Pedro, states that before 1850 there were no catastrophic epidemics and that they had devastated the population. It is certain that there were epidemic outbreaks in the region, but they were

• f a local character, reaching preferably the villages and parishes of the coast. According to the same

author, measles, smallpox and diphtheria were the diseases that most affected the population of São Paulo (Marcílio, 2000: 75). In general, this was the situation found for the parish of the Madre de Deus of Porto Alegre, as we can see from Graph 01. Based on the data gathered, the diagnostic descriptions indicated by the parish priests of Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre Parish were those found in the classification mentioned above. First a search was made of the diseases and symptoms in the different dictionaries used, and in the second stage the causes of death were classified by a specialist in epidemiology.9 To analyze the incidence of mortality crises in the parish, the methodologies proposed by Jacques Dupâquier and also the methodology proposed by Lorenzo Del Panta and Massimo Livi Bacci were used and the final results are different, according to both methodology used.

8 In any case it is interesting to note that a law of 1814 barred burial without a certificate issued by a “doctor or other

practitioner” (Altmann and Ferreira, 1979, p. 401).

9 The authors received the contribution of Dr. Ruy Laurenti, professor of the Departament of Epidemiology of the

Faculdade de Saúde Pública (Universidade de São Paulo), to perform the classification of causes of death. Based on the proposal of Bernabeu Mestre and others, he rated the causes of death at Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre.

10 According to the methodology of Jacques Dupâquier we find crises of low intensity for the years 1795, 1798, 1801, 1806, 1825, 1837. On the other hand, following the methodology of Del Panta and Livi Bacci, crises would have occurred in the years of 1782, 1801, 1806, 1837. According to Graph 1, we verified that the crises recorded from those methods, 1801, 1806 and 1837, were respectively: smallpox, measles and scarlet fever. The strongest crisis (1837)

• ccurred during the Farroupilha conflict, when the city of Porto Alegre was besieged.

Table 3 - Cause of death free and slave population of the Madre de Deus of Porto Alegre 1800-1854

Cause of death Free % Free Slave % Slave Grand Total Infectious Diseases 5085 35,3 3950 32,8 9035 Noninfectious diseases 2935 20,4 2716 22,5 5651 Undefined disease 5098 35,4 4490 37,3 9588 Not Declared 1272 8,8 889 7,4 2161 Grand Total 14390 100 12045 100 26435 Source: Parish Registers - Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre

Between 1772 and 1799 we only have 12.5% of the death registers with the declared cause

• f death (external causes only), this percentage increases to 91.8% between 1800 and 1854. Therefore,

the analysis of causes of death will take into account only the data related to the nineteenth century, which correspond to 26.435 of the registries, or 94.0%. This is, therefore, a representative sample. In the preliminary analysis, which classified causes by large groups of diseases, it was seen that more than 30% of the causes of death among population of Porto Alegre during the period were due to infectious diseases (diarrhea and enteritis, smallpox, tuberculosis). Among noninfectious, congestion and cerebral hemorrhage are the most common, followed by around 36% in the category of "badly defined" or undefined diseases (internal disease, for instance). What is striking is the fact that percentages are very similar for the free and slave population.

Final considerations

The results presented are partial, related to an ongoing research, and therefore subject to adjustments during the development of the study. In any case, it is important to note that there was no significant difference between the characteristics of mortality among the free population and the slave population. Everything indicates that the precarious sanitary conditions of Porto Alegre similarly affected free and slaves. However, it should be pointed out that, according to Table 01, 50% of deaths among the free population concerned children up to 9 years of age. On the other hand, when we examined the slave population (table 02), it was verified that

11 the deaths up to 9 years totaled 41.1%. The hypotheses explaining the lower percentage among the slave population are related to two main factors: 1) the different age structure of the slave population, which receives a significant influx of adult slaves through the slave trade. This situation was found, especially since 1816; 2) the expected underreporting of deaths of slave children, which may have contributed to the lower percentage of deaths recorded, especially for children under 1 year of age.

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