After Brazil banned the slave trade in 1850 the shortage of labor intensified. Different groups in Brazil launched a fierce debate on the introduction of Chinese and European immigrants. In the end the views of racists radical abolitionists and the intellectual elite prevailed. They held strong racial prejudice of the_"Yellow Peril _"and advocated the introduction of European immigrants to fill the huge gap of labor force spread advanced production technology and ideological culture _"improve_" the population structure of Brazil and help Brazil get rid of _"barbarism _"and move toward _"civilization_". Immigrants from Italy Portugal and Spain the three southern European countries became the largest immigrant group in Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Italian and Spanish immigrants were very similar in composition migration pattern distribution occupation etc. First they were basically poor farmers in rural areas and most of them migrated outward in family units Second most of the immigrants were subsidized by the Brazilian government as agricultural laborers mostly working on the coffee plantations in Sao Paulo Third they were treated very badly on the plantation Fourth their social mobility was strong and most immigrants migrated again. In contrast Portuguese immigrants are mainly young single adult males from rural areas they mainly stayed in the cities of Brazil. They received no subsidies and preferred more freedom in career choice. Large numbers of immigrants from southern Europe helped fuel Brazil?s coffee boom and early industrialization but they also had problems with low settlement rates conflicts with native workers and frequent strikes and uprisings.