Boaventura

Thomas BRASEY

In 1819, driven by starvation and economic crisis, about 2000 Swiss people emigrated to Brazil. After a deadly journey, they founded the town of Nova Friburgo in the mountains surrounding Rio de Janeiro. Their new lands, which were supposed to allow the development of a
profitable agriculture, barely provided enough to feed, and the settlers scattered. Some returned to Rio where they lived in poverty and crime, others headed North where coffee could be grown, and made prosperous business there, particularly thanks to slavery.

curators    Florent BASILETTI, Klauss KEHRER 
partners          Kehrer Verlag