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<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/166945045″>Quilombola – History – FINAL</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/handcraftedfilms”>Handcrafted Films</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

The Atlantic slave trade saw 10 million Africans taken to be sold across the Americas, 40% of which arrived in Brazil, mostly destined to work in gold mines and on sugar plantations in brutal conditions. Many thousands fled to form communities of runaways known as quilombos, often hidden from the colonial authorities in remote areas. Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, making it the last country in the Americas to do so. However, many quilombola continued to remain concealed in remote corners until the 1960s when the country’s military rulers encouraged huge numbers of land speculators and cattle ranchers to enter the forests. Anyone found on their new property was considered a squatter and many quilombos were destroyed.