From Salvador to Ouro Preto, from Belém to Rio de Janeiro, from Recife to Vassouras. During the colonial and imperial periods, by transforming human beings into commodities, the slave-owning logic became the foundation of economic activity, responsible for modulating the design of the Brazilian territory.
Activities related to sugarcane, coffee, gold and livestock revolved around human trade and altered the axes of power. These changes in the location of administrative and political powers contributed to the definition of new borders and regions, directly associated with the processes of production and distribution of value.
Excessive taxation and dissatisfaction with the central government were factors that instigated pre-Independence rebellions, such as the Minas Gerais Conspiracy, 1789, in the state of Minas Gerais, and insurrections in the Regency Period, such as the Farroupilha Revolt (1835-45) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Although these two uprisings demanded freedom, none of them had the end of abolition as one of their aspirations, unlike other rebellions such as the Cabanagem Revolt (1835-40), in the former province of Grão-Pará.
The inequality and violence produced by colonial exploitation, coupled with exclusion and the unequal distribution of resources, have been consolidated throughout Brazilian history. The consequences of this socioeconomic process reverberate to this day, as do the demands to make a priority the transformation of these power structures.