This book examines the patterns of business development in latecomer economies by studying the formation of a business environment in nineteenth-century Minas Gerais, Brazil. As it demonstrates, the rate and character of business development in Brazil were to a large extent determined by its degree of backwardness, intellectual climate and natural potentialities, and accordingly the course of development of the Brazilian economy differed considerably from the process observed in more advanced countries. In addition, comparison between Minas Gerais, San Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro shows important differences among the three most important economies in Brazil.