Resumo
This study aims to present an overview of Pernambuco within the Atlantic economic system between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, linking the growth of agro-export production—especially cotton and sugar—to the increase in the arrival of slaves in Recife, the port of the captaincy. It argues that the process of “economic resurgence” experienced by Portuguese America in the second half of the eighteenth century contributed to the reintegration of the captaincy of Pernambuco into the wider Western economy, given its importance as a producer of colonial commodities. It further shows that this “resurgence” increased the demand for slaves, with Recife acting not only as a point of reception but also as an active center for their redistribution. Finally, it argues that, in the context of the flight of the Portuguese Royal Court, despite a temporary downturn, the economy resumed growth in the 1810s.