The continuity of his historical work came with his third book, Formação do Brasil contemporâneo : colônia [The formation of contemporary Brazil: a colony], published in 1942. At the time it was written, the work envisaged a thorough study up to the 20th century. This plan was not accomplished, and the work was limited to a single volume. It offers the reader an extensive analysis of various aspects of colonial life, more specifically its demographic, economic, and social aspects. There is also a change in perspective in comparison with his first book. In the former, the analytical emphasis was on the prospects for political change, while the latter is more about the permanence and persistence of the social and economic condition that dates back to three centuries of Portuguese rule. The situation was the result of the perseverance of the "sense of colonisation," the ordering of space, work, production, the circulation of goods and people, the administration to the dictates of the colonial yoke, the supply of highly profitable commodities on the European market, notably agricultural products and mineral extraction in tropical areas. The "sense of colonisation" was at the heart of the Brazilian economy and lasted throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It was responsible for an economic dependence on foreign markets, the need for high production rates and low technical qualifications, the brutal exploitation of labour, and the depletion of forest resources and arable land. These phenomena can be seen in all regions of Brazil and over the course of 400 years of occupation and systematic economic exploitation of natural wealth in this part of the world. Its essentially mercantile nature, the very soul of colonisation, was responsible for the short-sighted spirit, the lack of investment and technical refinement, and the intensive use of indigenous and African slaves from the 16th century onwards, and free labour at the turn of the 20th century, in the form of leases, partnerships, temporary work contracts, and salaried employment of impoverished European peasants and the labour of national migrants, particularly from the northeastern region of Brazil. The themes analysed in the book are organised into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the settlement and occupation of colonial space, human settlement, and the resulting composition of demographic contingents of three continents: Europe, Africa, and America. The second part deals with "material life" in the colonial areas, agricultural practices, livestock farming, extractivism , commerce, transport, and industry. The third part is dedicated to "Social Life," encompassing colonial administration and social relations. The parts into which the book is divided are preceded by an introductory chapter that highlights the modern "meaning of colonisation." Historian Fernando

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