The domestic market was underdeveloped due to lack of credit and the total self-sustainability of farmers, villages, and cities whose primary sources of food were subsistence agriculture and cattle herding.[28] During the first half of the 19th century, the Imperial government allocated a significant amount of resources to building roads and ports. The former made inter-regional transportation much easier (though almost exclusively in the South) and the latter opened the door for foreign trade. For a country with limited capital, exports were fundamental for the survival of Brazil’s economy.