The type of slavery that helped in the development of Latin American colonies was slave labor. Latin American countries especially Brazil was heavily dependent on slave labor to run their operations. Their economic activities ranging from the sugar exports, gold and diamond mining to cattle ranching, later on, was depended on slave labor primarily imported from Africa. It follows that Brazil has the highest population of people of African descent in the world coming second only to Nigeria. Slavery in Brazil predates colonization as it started as early as 1501, 31 years before the first portugese settlement.
