The Trade Practices in Salvador, Bahia

During the late 18th to mid 19th century, the market economy in Salvador, Bahia was very diverse in terms of its people and the types of jobs that people did there. It was a market that that was also unique due to the fact that everyone who was working, worked together and it made the economy stronger. One of the main aspects of the food market was the meat industry and may have been arguably the most important part because of how much of society had meat in their diets. This was one of the main staples in this economy was the food trade, which in itself was diverse on its own. Although the food market was diverse, it was a rudimentary type of market system; one that rarely included things such as interest and insurance. It was this kind of simple and basic type of market that made it easy for everyone to handle the trades and finances.

The meat industry was very important to the Brazilian society. It all started with the raising and handling of the cattle, which “came first of all from the arid interior of the province, especially in the northwest…[and] were driven from more distant places.” (1) The publicly-owned butcher shops were then sold to bidders by the cattle dealers and “were then entitled to buy cattle at the fair, process [the cattle] at their slaughterhouses…” (2) But this trading method did not work because there was a continuous shortage of cattle, possibly due to the artificial shortages caused by the cattle dealers or something beyond their control. To avoid this, “the city council [earned] firm control over all other segments of the trade…” (3) and butchers were now allowed to buyout these butcher shops. This newer method made more sense and made the trading process easier and smoother.

When the cattle were deemed to be good enough to go to the slaughterhouse, it was then the slaughterman's job to kill the cattle. This was the second step in the meat trading process. The city would rent properties to slaughter the cattle, but the