From Barter to Slavery. .. by Alexander Marchant was the first work to systematically study the central question of the relationship between the Portuguese and the indigenous people from an economic point of view, drawing extensively on the documentation available at the time. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda would call the work "an excellent and well-documented monograph" ( Manual Bibliográfico... [Bibliographic Manual], 1950, p. 405) and Léon Helguera, in turn, would correctly define the work as "seminal" ( The Americas , 1982, p. 403). More recently, both Stuart Schwartz (2003, p. 21 ff.) and John Monteiro (1994, pp. 32 and 231) have questioned Marchant's interpretation of the barter problem. Leaning on Schwartz, Monteiro stated that "Marchant placed the Indians in an erroneous theoretical context, assuming a Western-type behaviour from the natives, the apparently irrational Brazilian Indians, in the face of the objective conditions of the market , " also disregarding the profound effects and impact that tools and weapons would have on indigenous societies. In any case, From Barter to Slavery... is still an essential work for the study of this period. In fact, it may be considered a classic in the historiography of Colonial Brazil.

Active bibliography : “Writings in English, French, Italian and Portuguese Concerning the German Colonies in Southern Brazil”, Handbook of Latin American Studies . Cambridge, Harvard University Press, v. 5, 1938, 418-431; “Colonial Brazil as a Way Station for the Portuguese India Fleets”. The Geographical Review , n.º31, 1941, 454-465; “Tiradentes in the Conspiracy of Minas”. The Hispanic American History Review , n.º21, 1941, 239-257; “Feudal and Capitalistic Elements in the Portuguese Settlement of Brazil”. The Hispanic American History Review , n.º 21, 1942, 493-512; Boundaries of the Latin American Republics , U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942 e 1944; Do Escambo à Escravidão, as relaçõeseconômicas de portugueses e índiosnacolonização do Brasil, 1500-1800 ,São Paulo, CompanhiaEditoraNacional, 1943 (2.ª ed. 1980); From Barter to Slavery: Economic Relations of Portuguese and Indians in the Settlement of Brazil, 1500-1580 , Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1944 (2.ª ed. 1966); _____ e SMITH, T Lynn, Brazil, Portrait of Half a Continent, New York, Dryden Press, 1951; “Colonial Brazil”. LIVERMORE, Harold, Portugal and Brazil: as introduction. Oxford, Claredon Press, 1953, 283-301; Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Luso-Brazilian Studies ,Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press, 1953.

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