Brazilian coffee cycle

In Brazil's economic history, the coffee cycle (Portuguese: Ciclo do café) was a period in which coffee was the main export product of the Brazilian economy. It began in the mid-19th century and ended in 1930. The coffee cycle succeeded the gold cycle, which had come to an end after the exhaustion of the mines a few decades earlier, and put an end to the economic crisis generated by this decadence.

Coffee had been brought to Brazil in 1727, but was never produced in large scale, being cultivated mostly for domestic consumption. Its production lagged far behind that of other products. Coffee's rise was only due to a favorable internal and external scenario that made its cultivation advantageous.

Coffee production developed rapidly throughout the 19th century, so that by the 1850s it was responsible for almost half of Brazil's exports. The center-south region of the country was chosen for the plantations because it offered the most appropriate weather conditions and the most suitable soil, according to the needs of the coffee plant.^[1] The first large cultivated region was the Paraíba Valley, and the work in the plantations was done with slave labor. With the decline of production in this region, it shifted to the west of São Paulo, where it found its second great cultivation area. At this point free labor, especially that of European immigrants (mostly Italians) who were arriving in large numbers in Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, had replaced slave labor.

The coffee cycle left deep marks in the country, and its consequences are still perceptible today. It was during the coffee cycle that the state of São Paulo achieved the political and economic primacy it has today. Coffee also gave a strong impulse to industrialization, railroad construction and urbanization.