Gilberto Freyre’s book « masters and slaves », often quoted in Tiradentes, described how master-slave ties had influenced Brazilian anthropology. Other thinkers, such as Josué de Castro and Paulo Freire, have shown that hunger and illiteracy are indeed the putative sons of slavery. Since 1888, slavery has been abolished in Brazil and the « carnival country » is today an emerging country that sends people into space, controls nuclear fission and has built the most efficient synchrotron on the planet?
However, the feudal heritage is heavy to bear, especially in rural and pioneer areas, where the State is traditionally not very present or, worse still, had delegated to the masters (coronels) some of its regalian functions including those of maintaining order and justice. Today, slave labour is a disease that plagues many territories where the primary sector is of major importance. The NGO already presented in Tiradentes-géographie reporter.org.br  has been carrying out a long investigation for many years, which has led to the release of several tens of thousands of slave workers. It puts online the data from the Ministry of Labour that made it possible to produce the map.

FIG.1 Number of slave workers free by brasilian state

Source : Reporterbrasil.org.br                                              Tiradentes-Géographie, 2019

Thus, 49816 slave workers were released between 1995 and 2015.  In the Amazonian state of Parà alone, nearly 13,000 workers have been identified and rescued by the various organizations in charge of the fight against slavery. There were nearly 6,000 in Mato Grosso and 3,900 in Goiàs, the state that hosts the capital’s federal district.