The casa-grande (Portuguese and Spanish: "big house") was the Brazilian equivalent of a Southern plantation in the United States.
Additionally, sugar cane was grown in the interior, in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The casa-grande was made up of three main components: the Big House, the senzala (slave quarters), and the engenho (sugar cane mill).
Essential structures that were built included the school, the nursery, the infirmary, the family chapel, the lords’s harem, the bank, and the cemetery.
[3] Gilberto Freyre wrote in his book Casa-Grande & Senzala, "Once the Jesuit was overthrown the senhor de engenho dominated colonial life almost without interference.