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| A Look at Coffee History |
In 1727 Francisco de Mello Palheta of Brazil was sent to French Guinea to obtain coffee seeds. Like the Arabians and the Dutch the French didn't want their coffee plants cultivated by other countries. Legend has it, de Mello charmed the French governor's wife and she buried some coffee seeds in a bouquet of flowers. So, again coffee was swiped and brought to Brazil where coffee cultivation got going around 1729. Another story has it that a coffee seed was imported into Surinam in 1719 and a coffee seed from there or Cayenne reached Brazil in 1723. It wasn't until 1767 that the first coffee estate in Brazil is said to have been set.
Late in the 17th century, gold was found in the state of Minas Gerais; to facilitate taxation and combat smuggles, the King of Portugal determined that all the gold production should be exported through the port of Rio de Janeiro. Even though the production was concentrated in Minas Gerais, many villages were founded along the path between the mines and the port. Big transformations happened in Rio: increase of population, the appearance of a free working class (in contrast with the master-slave structure which existed in the cane production areas), diversification of plantations, etc.
In 1763, the city of Rio de Janeiro became the only administrative capital of Brazil. In 1808, fleeing from the Napoleonic Wars, the King of Portugal moved the entire court there; the city saw improvements in the urbanization to receive the noblèsse, which in turn brought a cultural atmosphere that the city otherwise would never have.
In 1822, after Brazil became independent, the city of Rio became capital of the Empire. Rio de Janeiro was not only the largest urban center of Brazil, but also the one with faster growth; there were economic, social and culture refinements, which would make it the most well known Brazilian city. The Independence coincided (better saying, had a close relationship) with the decline of the gold production. Resources were then redirected to a new product: coffee.
In the 19th century coffee took the place of sugar as Brazil's most important product. The boom in coffee production brought a wave of almost one million European immigrants, mostly Italians, and also brought about the Brazilian Republic. In 1889, the wealthy coffee magnates backed a military coup, the emperor fled, and Brazil was no more an imperial country. The coffee planters virtually owned the country and the government for the next thirty years, until the worldwide depression evaporated coffee demand.
Coffee became Brazil's major product, generating wealth and stimulating the growth of all agricultural and industrial sectors, remaining until today one of the principal products of the country’s export portfolio.
Coffee also brought to Brazil a substantial economic, social, and political change. For climatic reasons, this change was minimal in the North and Northeast. However, in the southern states, especially Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, and Paraná, coffee gave rise to a new civilization.
Today coffee still continues to be one of the most important products in Brazil and is, no doubt, the most Brazilian of them all. Brazil is the world’s major producer, being responsible for 30% of the international coffee market, volume equivalent to the sum of the production of the other six major producer countries. Is also the second consumer market, being surpassed only by the United States.
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, sustainability is related to the choice of coffee producers and their respect for the environment as well as the quality of their human works.