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Colony of the Sertão: Amazonian Expeditions and the Indian Slave Trade*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Barbara A. Sommer
Barbara A. Sommer*
Affiliation:
Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
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Extract

After expelling their European rivals from the Amazon in the early–seventeenth century, the Portuguese set about exploiting the principal assets of the vast basin—the indigenous inhabitants. As allies, converts, and slaves the native population provided the labor and much of the social fabric of the developing colony. While a variety of canoe-borne expeditions ventured ever farther up the main river and its tributaries seeking elusive gold, harvesting forest products, and expanding the crown's domain, prosperity and power for the leaders and sponsors of those forays derived mainly from the human cargo brought downstream to missions, forts, and other settlements. As a result, crown and colonial authorities attempted to regulate and control the expeditions, and fierce competition developed among institutions and individuals involved in the process. Documents in Portuguese and Brazilian archives reveal the key role played by the Indians themselves in collaboration with the little-studied cross-cultural intermediaries, known as cunhamenas.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 61 , Issue 3: Rethinking Bandeirismo in Colonial Brazil , January 2005 , pp. 401 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2005 

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Footnotes

*

The author gratefully acknowledges research support from Gettysburg College and the Biblioteca Nacional—Fundação Luso-Americana in Lisbon, Portugal.

References

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2 We should not overlook the significant African slave population in the region early on, or the continued reliance on native labor after the crown abolished Indian slavery in 1755, however. For a recent study of Africans in the region, see Santos Gomes, Flávio dos, “A ‘Safe Haven’: Runaway Slaves, Mocambos, and Borders in Colonial Amazonia, Brazil,” Hispanic American Historical Review 82:3 (August 2002), pp. 469–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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17 These terms were also used in São Paulo, see Monteiro, , Negros da Terra, especially pp. 137, 155, 165.Google Scholar I have not seen “negros da terra” used in the North. Caution is advised when trying to distinguish between African and Indian “negros.”

18 Dauril Alden defined them as “punitive military forays intended to punish recalcitrant Indians and to procure prisoners,” see Alden, , “Indian Versus Black Slavery,” p. 97.Google Scholar

19 The term apparently evolved from its medieval military usage referring to a 36-man unit, see discussion in Morse, , The Bandeirantes, p. 22.Google Scholar

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22 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 291–96.Google Scholar

23 12 July 1738 and 5 Aug. 1744, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 101–02, 128–31. War broke out with the Guegues a few years later, however, see chief magistrate to governor, Moucha, 6 Nov. 1747, APEP, cod. 49(1163), doc. 6.

24 For accounts of the horrific abuses perpetrated in the sertão, see Hemming, John, Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500–1760 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), especially chaps. 15 and 18.Google Scholar

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32 Governor João da Maia da Gama to P.e Superior Jozeph Vidigal, Bellem do Parâ, 14 Aug. 1724, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 8, D. 705.

33 For a detailed account of the Manao-Mayapena War, see Sweet, “A Rich Realm,” chap. 10.

34 Comissário Provincial do Convento de Santo António, fr. Joaquim da Conceição to king [João V], Convento de Santo António do Pará, 6 Oct. 1729, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 11, D. 1063.

35 [Comissário Provincial da Provincia de Santo António] e deputado da Junta das Missões, fr. Joaquim da Conceição to king [João V], Convento de Santo António do Para, 30 Sept. 1730, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 12, D. 1157.

36 Alden, , “Indian Versus Black Slavery,” p. 115.Google Scholar

37 6 and 29 Sept. 1738, 26 Sept. 1739, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 107–08, 113–14; Governor's instructions, Belém do Pará, 9 Sept. 1739, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 208 (195).

38 Royal Order, Lisboa, 10 Mar. 1739, in Autos da devassa contra os Índios Mura do Rio Madeira e nações do Rio Tocantins (1738-39): facsimiles e transcrições paleográficas, intro., de Oliveira, Adélia Engràcia (Manaus: FUA; Brasilia: INL, 1986), pp. 162–63.Google Scholar

39 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 117–18.Google Scholar

40 de Acuña, Cristóbal, “Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio del Amazonas, en el año 1639,” in Informes de Jesuítas en el Amazonas, 1660–1684 (Iquitos, Peru: IIAP; CETA, 1986), pp. 95–96.Google Scholar

41 Fritz, , Journal of the Travels, pp. 91, 96.Google Scholar

42 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 290.Google Scholar

43 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 131.Google Scholar

44 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 141–42, 466.Google Scholar

45 Monteiro, , “O escravo índio,” p. 112.Google Scholar

46 Sweet, , “ARich Realm,” pp. 466–70, 481–82, 526Google Scholar; Alden, , “Indian Versus Black Slavery,” pp. 110–12.Google Scholar For further detail on the tropas de resgates and private slaving, see Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” chaps. 9 and 11.Google Scholar

47 João de Abreu de Castelbranco, Belém, 4 Dec. 1737, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 19; APEP, cod. 26 (933), docs. 53, 118[a], 204, 292; Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 598–600,Google Scholar and Appendix J, pp. 729–33; “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 87–88, 108–110, 113.

48 [Acting Provincial] Jozé Lopes to P.e Achiles Maria, Coll.o do Pará, 6 Mar. 1738 [copy] and [João de Abreu to Lourenço Belfort], nl, 13 Mar. 1738, Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon, hereafter BNL, Colecção Pombalina, hereafter PBA, cod. 631, fis. 2–3; Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 601–02.Google Scholar

49 Instructions to the treasurer of resgates, Belém, 26 Nov. 1741, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 394 (339). See also Pará, 20 Nov. 1743, APEP, cod. 25 (985), docs. 496 (430) and 497.

50 Instructions to the treasurer of resgates, Captain António Roiz’ Martins, Pará, 29 Nov. 1744, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 542 (472).

51 Similar trade items were valued in other regions of Brazil, see Monteiro, , Negros da Terra, p. 63.Google Scholar

52 The lists are scattered throughout the meeting minutes in “The ‘Junta de Missões.’”

53 Wright, , “Indian Slavery in the Northwest Amazon,” pp. 164–77; APEP, cod. 44 (1110).Google Scholar

54 Instructions to the purveyor of the royal treasury, Belém, 3 Feb. 1739, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 139 (128); Instructions to the royal magistrate, Belém, 14 Sept. 1739, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 222 (198).

55 Meira, Márcio, ed., Livro das Canoas: documentos para a historia indígena da Amazônia (São Paulo: Núcleo de História Indígena e do Indigenismo da Universidade de São Paulo; FAPESP, 1994).Google Scholar

56 “Reg.to das pessoas q’ se concederâo o Amaro Glz’, … ” Governor João de Abreu de Castelbranco, Belém do Pará, 19 Sept. 1739, APEP, cod. 25 (985), doc. 225 (201). For more on Rio Negro headmen who allied themselves with slavers and supplied captives, see Wright, , “History and Religion of the Baniwa,” pp. 129–32.Google Scholar

57 26 Aug. 1744, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 131–32.

58 22 Sept. 1745, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” p. 143.

59 31 Oct. 1744, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 135–36.

60 3 Nov. 1747, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 148–50.

61 Ofícios (minutas) do [secretário de Estado da Marinha e Ultramar, Diogo de Mendonça Corte Real] to [governador e capitão general do Estado do Maranhão e Pará] Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, Lisbon, 28 April 1753, AHU_ ACL_CU_013, Cx. 34, D. 3185; Artide 5, “Instruções régias públicas e secretas, para Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, Capitâo-General do Estado do Pará e Maranhão,” Lisboa, 31 May 1751, reprinted in João Lucio de Azevedo, Os Jesuítas no Grão-Pará: suas Missões e a colonização (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1930), Appendix F, pp. 416–27; and in A Amazonia na Era Pombalina: Correspondència Inédita do Governador e Captião-General do Estado do Grão-Parâ e Maranhão Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado 1751–1757, (hereafter AEP), ed. de Mendonça, Marcos Carneiro, 3 vols. (Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Histórico e Geográphico Brasileiro, 1963), vol. 1, pp. 26–38.Google Scholar

62 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 128.Google Scholar

63 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 473–74.Google Scholar

64 Quoted in Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 313.Google Scholar

65 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 314.Google Scholar

66 See Chief Magistrate Francisco de Andrade Ribeiro to the king [João V], Belém do Pará, 23 Sept. 1730, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 12, D. 1145.

67 26 Oct. and 14 Dec. 1737, “The ‘Junta de Missões,”’pp. 88–89, 93.

68 9 Nov. 1743, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 127–28

69 18 Jan. 1738, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 93–94.

70 19 Jan. 1739, “The ‘Junta.de Missões,’” pp. 111–12.

71 27 Oct. 1741, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 119–120.

72 23 Dec. 1745, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” p. 145.

73 See “Diretório que se deve observar nas Povoações dos Indios do Pará e Maranhão,” 1757, reprinted in Moreira Neto, Carlos de Araújo, Índios da Amazonia, de maioria a minoria (1750–1850) (Petrópolis: Editora Vozes, 1988), pp. 165–206,Google Scholar articles 78 and 79. For successful descimentos, see, for example, [Governor] Manuel Bernardo de Melo e Castro to [secretario de Estado da Marinha e Ultramar] Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, Pará, 5 Nov. 1760, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 47, D. 4344.

74 These men are the subject of a forthcoming article by the author entitled “Kinship and Alliance in the Eighteenth-Century Indian Slave Trade in Northwestern Amazonia.”

75 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 523.Google Scholar

76 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 310–11.Google Scholar

77 Reg.to de hua Patente do posto de Cap.m dos descim.tos passada a Pedro de Braga, Cid.e de Bellem do Grão Pará, 2 Dec. 1745, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 313, pp. 264–65.

78 Pedro de Braga, 1758, Inquisição de Lisboa, hereafter IL, Processo 5169, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon), hereafter ANTT, fis. 71–75.

79 Fran.co Xavier de Andr.e to governor, Mariuá, 18 Feb. 1752, BNL, PBA, cod. 625, fis. 69–70.

80 Pedro de Braga identified a man named Pedro Martins de Braga as his baptismal godfather. It is likely that the older man was also a relative since the younger Pedro's father's name was Mario Martins de Braga and his paternal grandfather was Francisco Martins de Braga. Braga, IL, Processo 5169, ANTT, fis. 92v-93; Pedro Martins de Braga, Carta de Confirmação, D. João V, 5 Feb. 1721, Registo Geral de Mercès, ANTT, Lv. 12, fi. 303; Requerimento, Standard-Bearer Pedro Martins de Braga to king [João V], Belém, Aug. 1724, [Ant. 27 Oct. 1726], AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 10, D. 864. Another son, the soldier João de Almeida de Braga, served in the company of Captain Diogo Pinto da Gaya, the well-known tropa leader.

81 Braga, IL, Processo 5169, ANTT, fi. 81v.

82 João Roiz’ da Crus to governor, Fortaleza de Jesus Maria Jozeph, 16 Aug. 1752, BNL, PBA, cod. 625, fis. 110-112V.

83 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 322–24.Google Scholar

84 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 487–88.Google Scholar

85 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 326.Google Scholar

86 [Francisco Xavier Mendonça Furtado to king], Pará, 12 Nov. 1751, AEP, vol. 1, p. 60. For more on the penurious life of soldiers, see Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 67–69.Google Scholar

87 Sweet identified him as the nephew of Belchior Mendes de Moraes, see Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” p. 603.Google Scholar During this same period, a Francisco de Andrade served as a sergeant at the Fort at Gurupa and was appointed captain of descimentos for the Fort at Pauxis, although it is unclear if this was the same man. See 22 Dec. 1747, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 369, fl. 319.

88 8[?] Apr. 1749, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 431, fis. 343–44.

89 Investigation by the Inquisition Commissioners, Prova da Justiça, Braga, IL, Processo 5169, ANTT, fis. 27–27V, 107v.

90 Bellem, 9 Nov. 1744, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 292, fis. 251–52.

91 12 Oct. 1743, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 275, fis. 237–38. The relationship between the two men is clarified in 23 Oct. 1738, APEP, cod. 32 (989), docs. 4 and 5.

92 9 Feb. 1746, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. [327], fl. 273.

93 Belem, 5 July 1749, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 442, fl. 351.

94 Fran.co X.er de M.ca Furtado to the king, Pará, 3 Nov. 1753, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 35, D. 3273.

95 The captains of descimentos and cunhamenas have largely disappeared from the historiography, due in part I suspect to their vilification by mid-eighteenth century reformers, who perceived the cunhamenas as powerful agents of disorder. Notable exceptions are Robin Wright and David Sweet, who referred to them as “private slavers” and “transfrontiersmen,” respectively. See Wright, , “History and Religion of the Baniwa,” pp. 126–28Google Scholar; Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 664–671.Google Scholar

96 Cid.e de B.em do Para, 30 Mar. 1749, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 430, fis. 342–43.

97 23 Nov. 1737, 19 Jan. 1739, 19 Nov. 1740, “The ‘Junta de Missões,” pp. 88–89, 111–13; 118; B.em do Para, 7 Nov. 1740, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. 187, fis. 158–59; Cid.e de Bellem do Para, 15 Apr. 1743, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. [?], fl. 215; 14 Dec. 1743, APEP, cod. 26 (933), doc. [285], fl. 246. Francisco may have followed in his father's footsteps. In 1724, the governor ordered a Sergeant Major Domingos Portilho de Mello e Gusmão to explore the Tocantins and “reduce” Indians to populate a new settlement. [Governor João] da Maya da Gama, “Regim.to a d.os Portilho de Mello,” Bellem do Para, 18 July 1724, APEP, cod. 10 (907), doc. [85?], fl. 506–08 [?damaged].

98 Instructions to the treasurer of resgates, 2 Dec. 1753, APEP, cod. 55 (986), doc. 758.

99 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm, pp. 491–92.Google Scholar

100 Comissário Provincial do Convento de Santo António, Fr. Joaquim da Conceição to king [João V], Convento de Santo António do Pará, 6 Oct. 1729, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 11, D. 1063.

101 5 Oct. 1744, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” p. 135.

102 Requerim^o do R^mo P^e Prov^al do Carmo, 18 Aug. 1745, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” p. 142.

103 15 Mar. 1745, “The ‘Junta de Missões,’” pp. 139–40.

104 Investigation by the Inquisition Commissioners, Braga, IL, Processo 5169, ANTT, fl. 27.

105 Ferreira Reis, Arthur Cézar, História do Amazonas, 2d ed. (Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia; Manaus: Superintendência Cultural do Amazonas, 1989), pp. 77–78.Google Scholar

106 Lourenço Belfort to [Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado], Mar.am, 8 Feb. 1753, BNL, PBA, cod. 621, fis. 214-16. Also see Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 599–600, 669.Google Scholar

107 Sweet, , “A Rich Realm,” pp. 620–21 n. 44Google Scholar

108 Alida Metcalf has described a similar competition between mamelucos and Jesuits in sixteenth-century Bahia. See Metcalf, Alida C., “O jesuita como intermediário na Baía nos fins do século XVI,” in De Cabrai a Pedro I: Aspectos da colonização Portuguesa no Brasil, ed. Nizza da Silva, María Beatriz (Porto: Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, 2001), pp. 79–88.Google Scholar

109 Investigation by the Inquisition Commissioners, Braga, IL, Processo 5169, ANTT, fl. 27v.

110 Fr. Jozé do Trind.e to [provincial of Jesuits?], Tubarê, 4 Jan. 1752, BNL, PBA, cod. 630, fl. 5253. See also M.elde Mor.ce Castro to governor, Rio Negro, 15 Nov. 1752[1?] and Frans.co Portilho de Mello to governor, Rio Negro, 15 Nov. 1751, BNL, PBA, cod. 630, fis. 36-37, 41. Portilho also captured a descimento of Baniwa arranged by rival cunhamena Cardozo and shipped them downriver to Avogadri. See Wright, , “History and Religion of the Baniwa,” pp. 133–34.Google Scholar

111 [Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado to Pombal], Pará, 26 Jan. 1752, AEP, vol. 1, p. 212.

112 For a detailed discussion of Overseas Council debates and policymakers’ decision to establish a trading company to ship African slaves to the North, see Alden, , “Indian Versus Black Slavery,” pp. 129–140.Google Scholar

113 [Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado to Pombal], Pará, 10 Nov. 1752, AEP, vol. 1, p. 290.

114 [Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado to Pombal], Pará, 10 Nov. 1752, AEP, vol. 1, pp. 291–92.

115 Governor Fran.co X.er de M.ca Furtado to Diogo de M.ca Corte Real, Pará, 1 Feb. 1754, AHU_ACL_CU_013, Cx. 36, D. 3323.

116 [Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado to Pombal], Pará, 25 Feb. 1754, AEP, vol. 2, p. 515.

117 For more on Pombaline reform of the Amazonian missions, see MacLachlan, Colin, “The Indian Directorate: Forced Acculturation in Portuguese America,” The Americas 28 (April 1972), pp. 357–87Google Scholar; Hemming, Red Gold, chap. 21 ; de Almeida, Rita Heloísa, O Diretório dos índios: um projeto de civiliza-çào no Brasil do século XVIII (Brasilia: Editora Universidade de Brasília, 1997), chap. 5Google Scholar; Sommer, Barbara A., “Negotiated Settlements: Native Amazonians and Portuguese Policy in Pará, Brazil, 1758–1798” (Ph.D. diss., University of New Mexico, 2000), chap. 2Google Scholar; Domingues, Ângela, Quando os índios eram vassalos: colonização e relações de poder no Norte do Brasil na segunda metade do século XVIII (Lisboa: Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, 2000), chap. 2.Google Scholar