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MARY KARASCH
The Anasticias of Rio
The slave women of Rio were not a uniform group.      Their
diverse ages, nationalities, and colors affected their treat-
ment, status, and roles.    The census of 1849 shows that more
than half (57.3 percent) of the slave women had been born in
Africa.4 Although the Mina women of West Africa fascinated
European visitors, less than ten percent of Rio's Africans were
West Africans. Instead, two-thirds of them came from the vast
region of West Central Africa, now comprising the countries of
Gabon,  Congo,  Zaire,   and  Angola.   Another  15-25  percent,
depending on the period, were from East Africa, largely
Mozambique (Karasch 1987: Ch. 1).
Brazilian-born slave women were usually distinguished by
color. They were either black, parda or mulata, or cabra.5 If
they came from other regions of Brazil, they were also iden-
tified by their province of origin, such as parda da Bahia,
Bahian mulatto woman. The typical Brazilian-born slave woman
living in Rio was likely to be black and born in the city or
elsewhere in the province of Rio de Janeiro.
Another important factor was age. Most African females
were young girls, teenagers, or young women, when they first
arrived,'while all age groups were represented among those born
in Brazil.    Eleven percent   of  the newly   imported African
females were nine years old or younger, while almost two-thirds
were between ten and nineteen (Table 4.1).      Only about one-
quarter were above the age of twenty.       These African girls
endured the trauma of the trek to the African coast, the
infamous middle passage, and the exhibition and sale of their
persons, often while nude, in the slave market. On the whole,
they were younger than a comparable group of male slaves.
One-fifth of African females, based on a life span sample that
recorded dates of arrival and of death of 250 African females
in Rio, died within three years of arrival. The seasoning
process apparently affected males and females equally, since
one-fifth of the males also died during that time period.
After that life expectancy for males and females diverged.
Within nine years 20.8 percent of the females had died as
opposed to 15.5 percent of the males (Karasch 1987: Table 4.5).
Since African girls were imported at younger ages than African
males, it may be     that a higher percentage of females died
because of complications due to pregnancy and childbirth or
because they received worse treatment than males. Tuberculosis
also appears to have been a significant factor.
According to data from the Santa Casa da Misericdrdia,
which assumed responsibility for the burial of many Brazilian-
born and African-born slaves, female slaves tended to die
younger than males - 54.2 percent of females were under age
nine,  as opposed to 33.4 percent of males.       These figures
accord well with another sample from Rio, in which 56 percent
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