Origin and historical trajectory of the commodity that helped write the history of our country.
In the 3rd century AD, in the mountains of Abyssinia, a young goatherd realizes that his goats became more lively and energetic after eating the berries of a local bush. The goatherd then decides to bring these berries to a nearby monastery, but the monks attribute the properties to the work of the devil and set them aflame. A delicious aroma permeates the surroundings, and the abbot, changing his mind, suggests that the berries be crushed and boiled to see what kind of brew the plant would produce. They discover that the concoction keeps them awake during prayers. Gradually, the drink spreads throughout the Arab world.
This is the best known legend, among the many others, that tell the story of the discovery of coffee. What is known as a verified fact is that the Dutch brought coffee from the Arab world in the sixteenth century, first to their eastern colonies, Java, Ceylon and Sumatra, and then to the Netherlands, Antilles and Central America. There, coffee found a climate particularly favorable to its cultivation.
In Brazil, coffee arrived in 1727, brought from the French Guyana to Pará. Gradually, its cultivation expanded to the south - to São Paulo and Minas Gerais. In 1830, it was already the main export of the country, surpassing cotton and sugar cane. Ten years later, Brazil established itself as the world's largest coffee producer, thus initiating the so-called “golden period” of the Coffee Cycle, which lasted until 1930 and had a profound economic and social impact on our history. The expansion of farming led to the expansion of railways and the modernization of the ports of Rio de Janeiro and Santos. It was the growing demand for labor on the coffee plantations, especially after slavery was officially abolished, which is responsible for prompting the first waves of European immigrants to the country, the Italians in particular. It was coffee production that gave rise to the domestic market as well and spurred on the development of industrial, commercial and financial undertakings. It was a decisive factor in the consolidation of the political hegemony of the Central-South region of Brazil.