A fazenda (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɐˈzẽdɐ, fa-]) is a plantation found throughout Brazil during the colonial period (16th–18th centuries). They were concentrated primarily in the northeastern region, where sugar was produced in the engenhos, expanding during the 19th century in the southeastern region to coffee production. Nowadays fazenda denotes any kind of farm in Brazilian Portuguese and occasionally in other Portuguese varieties as well.
Fazendas created major export commodities for Brazilian trade, but also led to intensification of slavery in Brazil. Coffee provided a new basis for agricultural expansion in southern Brazil. In the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and then São Paulo, coffee estates, or fazendas, began to spread toward the interior as new lands were opened. By 1850 coffee made up more than 50% of Brazil's exports, which amounted to more than half of the world's coffee production.
