no source, but i swear to the almighty goddess that is true as truth can be on the internet nowadays.
when they invaded brazil and bf using slaved ppl from africa, the portuguese tried using the locals as slaved, but soon realized it wouldnt work as well as in other colonized regions. the natives just dont had the same perception about “work” than the portuguese. they said the natives were lazy, didnt like to work, had no ambitions. they did the bare minimum to survive and enjoy life the rest of the time. so, if the day work was done in 2hrs, they didnt go looking for more work. they just go to their hangmats, had sex, play, make war, talk etc.
when putted in forced labor, many just got in deep depression and stopped caring for life. they stooped moving, eating and just wasted away till dead.
no, the brazilian indians werent “lazy”. nomads or semi-nomads, the millions os natives, distributed in hundreds of linguistic nations, had hard lifes and hard work. they had no advanced tec, no metal tools, no miracle crop to serve as base for any civilization. they lived on rudimentary agriculture, hunt and collect. when the local fauna and flora got used and eaten, they moved to another region so the one depleted could revive. there was no rice, no wheat, no oat, no potato, no corn, no horses, no cows and no many of the plants, since most of it was brought from India, later on. if not for the “mandioca”, a deadly poisons plant, they would starve. they eat what they could. monkeys, birds, fish, crustaceans, mandioca, peanut and “jabuticaba”, a type of local cherry. thats it. so, they HAD to work hard to have things like they big huts done. they just didnt see why after building one, they should build another one, if not needed.
but soon the portuguese, using another colonial “method”, the fucking, got around this. they noted that the native family was 100% patriarchy and that suited them just fine. since men could marry as many women they wanted and with each marriage, he became a member of the family, the portuguese “married” in many tribes, becoming “compadres” of many indians chiefs and also their allies against other tribes.
you see, “helping” the family wasnt considered “work”.
until today, a very much used expression among employers when they want manipulate their employees, is to say, for example: “why did you go to the judge about my contract breaking? you WERE like family to me!”.