Abstract
The demographic configuration of Brazil during the colonial period is known only in its general outlines. To a large degree this is due to the unavailability of census data for most of the colonial period as well as to a general reluctance on the part of historians to resort to the laborious process of systematically using parish records or census tracts. This essay is an effort to present detailed information on a colonial Brazilian urban center in the hope that it will provide some insights into the structure of colonial society while at the same time providing material from which comparisons can be drawn with other parts of the world for which the demographic picture is clearer. Because of the paucity of comparable studies for other areas of Brazil no claim is made, at this time, concerning the generalizability of the conclusions reached from the Vila Rica data.
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