First published in 1711, Brazil at the Dawn of the Eighteenth Century describes the four major economic activities of the Brazilian colony. Half the book is devoted to the sugar industry and the social world of those who grew the sugarcane. Other sections give a detailed view of the tobacco industry. Further, this work describes where and how gold was extracted, the new and old routes connecting Minas Gerais with the coast, and the rough-and-tumble world of the miners. Antonil concludes with discussion of the economic importance of cattle, and information on Brazilian exports and taxes. No other work provides this level of eyewitness detail.

ANDRÉ JOÃO ANTONIL (1649–1716) was an Italian Jesuit who lived in Brazil, mostly in Bahia, from 1681 until his death. TIMOTHY COATES is a professor of history at the College of Charleston. He is the author of Convicts and Orphans: Forced and State-Sponsored Colonization in the Portuguese Empire, 1550–1755 and (with Geraldo Pieroni) De couto do pecado à vila de sal: Castro Marim (1550–1850).