A decree sets procedures to seize ships involved in trafficking

On 8 August 1845, Britain passed the Aberdeen Act, authorizing British courts to try slave-trading vessels and crews under its interpretation of existing treaty rights. The act followed Brazil’s...

On 19 March 1849, enslaved builders at São José do Queimado in Espírito Santo rose after a promise of emancipation for constructing a church was not honored. Chico Prego, Elisiário, João da Viúva, and...

On 11 January 1850, Chico Prego was hanged publicly in Serra after being captured for his role in the Queimado uprising. Authorities used the execution to make an example of a leader who had mobilized...

On 4 September 1850, Law no. 581 strengthened the imperial state’s authority to suppress the landing of enslaved Africans brought into Brazil by sea. It came after decades of treaty promises and...

Law no. 601 of 18 September 1850 defined rules for public lands and regularizing existing occupation. It restricted new land claims through occupation alone and made purchase central to access to...

Decree no. 731 of 14 November 1850 provided additional implementation rules for Law no. 581. Its place in the rapid sequence of regulations shows the imperial government building administrative...

Decree no. 731-A of 14 November 1850 set percentages of proceeds from seized trafficking vessels and their cargo, and from payments made after captures of Africans, for a Navy auditor and clerk....

Decree no. 797 of 18 June 1851 ordered a general census. Counting inhabitants could aid administration and taxation, but population categories were created by a state whose social order depended on...

Decree no. 798, also dated 18 June 1851, set rules for registering births and deaths. In a slaveholding society, recording a child’s status could help reproduce an owner’s claim across generations....

On 29 January 1852, Decree no. 907 suspended the 1851 census and civil-registration regulations amid intense popular resistance. The protest, often called the Ronco da Abelha in some regions, was...