The Portuguese established a sugar colony on the African island of São Tomé in 1485.
In 1496 2,000 New Christian children were deported to the island, apparently to work on the sugar plantations. The following year only 600 were still alive. It is possible that the death of these white children is one of the factors leading to the African slave trade, Africans being better able to survive the climate.
It is possible that New Christians sugar planters began in São Tomé and later established themselves in Brazil.