t control of the world's sugar supply. When the Dutch were driven out in 1654, they had acquired the technical and organizational know-how for sugar production. Their involvement in the expansion of sugar in the Caribbean contributed to the downfall of the Portuguese monopoly. Do to the downfall the Portuguese realized they could not maintain the colony unless it discovered minerals. They increased the exploration and in the early eighteenth century gold and other precious mineral were found. As a result of the mineral discoveries, settlers flocked to the gold region, and growing numbers of slaves were transferred from the sugar areas and brought in from Africa. The extraction of gold increased rapidly until the 1750s when gold exports peaked. After the gold deposits became depleted and exports declined sharply in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the Brazilian economy entered another long period of stagnation. (6)Slavery was also took a big part in the shaping of Brazils colonial economy. At first the Portuguese bartered with the natives to bring brazilwood and other forest items to the coast. But when the natives had accumulated all the tools and pots they needed, they showed a lack of interest. The Portuguese then turned violent and enslaved the natives. The slaves were then used as workers to develop the sugar, cattle, and mineral industry. (7)The Current EconomyThere was a feared recession for recession near the turn of the century but it was not be as dramatic as earlier believed and the second quarter, seasonally adjusted GDP was almost 1 percent higher than the first quarter of the year. And that period had enjoyed 1.02 percent growth. The GDP for 1999 retreated by 0.4 percent. The year 2000 GDP growth of around 2.6 percent was well below the government's optimistic forecast of 4 percent. (8)Inflation is largely kept in check thanks to stagnant internal demand and government efforts at stabilizing the currency. If...
