In the 1530s, Portuguese colonists established sugar plantations in Brazil, significantly impacting the economy and society of the region. These plantations relied heavily on enslaved labor, which contributed to the brutal transatlantic slave trade. The expansion of sugar cultivation not only fueled economic growth in Brazil but also had profound social and cultural implications, shaping the demographics and history of the Americas.

The establishment of sugar plantations in Brazil around 1530 shaped depictions of colonial life in poetry. Poets like Gregório de Matos critiqued the moral implications of colonialism, using their work to reflect on the human cost of sugar production and the exploitation inherent in the colonial enterprise.