author

André João Antonil

1650–1716

A Jesuit writer and observer of colonial Brazil, he left behind one of the clearest early accounts of the country’s sugar, tobacco, and mining economy. His work remains a vivid window into daily labor, wealth, and power in Portuguese America.

1 Audiobook

Cultura e opulencia do Brasil por suas drogas e minas : com varias noticias curiosas do modo de fazer o assucar; plantar e beneficiar o tabaco; tirar ouro das minas, e descubrir as da prata; e dos grandes emolumentos que esta conquista da America Meridional da' ao Reino de Portugal, com estes, e outros generos, e contratos reaes

Cultura e opulencia do Brasil por suas drogas e minas : com varias noticias curiosas do modo de fazer o assucar; plantar e beneficiar o tabaco; tirar ouro das minas, e descubrir as da prata; e dos grandes emolumentos que esta conquista da America Meridional da' ao Reino de Portugal, com estes, e outros generos, e contratos reaes

by André João Antonil

About the author

Born in Lucca in 1649 as Giovanni Antonio Andreoni, he later became known by the pen name André João Antonil. He was an Italian Jesuit who studied law, joined the Society of Jesus, and eventually made his way to Brazil, where he spent much of his life in religious and administrative work.

Antonil is best remembered for Cultura e Opulência do Brasil por suas Drogas e Minas, published in 1711. The book is a major source for understanding colonial Brazil at the turn of the 18th century, especially the worlds of sugar production, tobacco, cattle raising, and gold mining.

He died in Salvador in 1716. Although little survives about him in personal detail, his writing endures because it describes Brazil’s colonial economy with unusual clarity and concreteness, making it valuable to both general readers and historians.