Given the question: What group of people were the most abundant in Brazil in 1872?  Answer the above question based on the context below:  White Brazilians descended from the original Portuguese settlers. From the 1870s onwards this ethnic group also included other European immigrants: mainly Italians, Spaniards and Germans. Although whites could be found throughout the country, they were the majority group in the southern region and in São Paulo province. Whites also comprised a significant proportion (40%) of the population in the northeastern provinces of Ceará, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. Black Brazilians of Sub-Saharan African ancestry inhabited the same areas as mulattoes. The majority of the population of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas and Pernambuco provinces (the last four having the smallest percentages of whites in the whole country—less than 30% in each) were black or brown. The Indians, the indigenous peoples of Brazil, were found mainly in Piauí, Maranhão, Pará and Amazonas.Because of the existence of distinct racial and cultural communities, 19th century Brazil developed as a multi-ethnic nation. However the data is problematic as no reliable information is available for the years prior to 1872. The first official national census was compiled by the government in 1872 showing that out of 9,930,479 inhabitants there were 38.1% whites, 38.3% browns, 19.7% blacks and 3.9% Indians. The second official national census in 1890 revealed that in a population of 14,333,915, 44% were whites, 32.4% browns, 14.6% blacks and 9% Indians.
The answer is:
browns