Some 170 years ago, a Swiss citizen led a revolt in Brazil which exposed the exploitation of European immigrants to Latin America in the 19th century. The story sheds light on dilemmas still central to today’s debates on migration, forced labour and state responsibility. Thomas Davatz left Switzerland for Brazil 170 years ago, in search of opportunity. Brazil, one of the world’s largest coffee producers, was coming under pressure from the United Kingdom, which had called into question a business model based on labour enslaved in Africa, approving laws such as the Aberdeen Act, which authorised the British Navy to capture Brazilian slave ships. In 1850, the transatlantic slave trade to Brazil was banned following this pressure. It was in this context that the first initiatives emerged, led by Brazil, to attract Europeans to replace the dwindling plantation labour force. Brazilian landowners believed that bringing European immigrants to Brazil would lend the country an image of ...
