A conquista e a ocupação da Amazônia brasileira no período colonial: a definição das fronteiras / The conquest and settling of the Brazilian Amazon region during the colonization period: the definition of the borders

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

The conquest and settling of the Amazon region during the colonization period were state-conducted enterprises, planned and executed with political priority by the metropolitan government, which resulted in the incorporation to the Brazilian territory of approximately 60% of its total present area. It was Portugals duty, still under the Iberic Union, under the King of Spains orders, the expulsion of the French from São Luís do Maranhão and the foundation, in 1616, of the Forte do Presépio de Santa Maria de Belém (Fort of the Nativity of Saint Mary of Bethlehem). As from that position, both fishermen and English and Dutch tradesmen, who were beginning to settle in the lower Amazon River, were expelled by the Portuguese forces, who then started to control access to the worlds largest hydrographic basin. After the foundation of the states of Maranhão and Grão-Pará in 1621 - autonomous and independent political entity of the State of Brazil - the administration of these territories became directly subordinate to Lisbons government, thus triggering an irreversible process of territorial penetration and exploitation throughout the vast Amazon hydrographic network. An official expedition, carried out between 1637 and 1639 had the aim of establishing a limit between the domains of both Iberic Crowns; it was led by Pedro Teixeira, who wrote the possession registration document for Portugal of the land located west of the Franciscan settlement, founded by the Portuguese, where the current Equatorian territory lies. Shortly afterwards, between 1647 and 1651, explorer Antonio Raposo Tavares led one of the greatest geographic expeditions in history, a voyage from São Paulo to Belém, crossing over 5,000 kilometers through the American continents wilderness. This expedition revealed both accesses from southern Brazil to the Amazon and the importance of the Madeira River and its connection with the Andean highland. For this strategic reason, the Portuguese Crown demanded the settling of the Madeira River valley by religious missionaries, invaluable agents of conversion and conquest, who less than a century after the construction of Belém had irradiated the settling by means of tens of missions founded in several points of the Amazon territory. Lisbon also demanded: fighting against the French incursions north of the Amazon River; the conquest of both the Negro and Branco Rivers; the expulsion of the Jesuits in service for Spain from the Solimões River; and the expedition to the Madeira River to hold back the Spanish presence west of the Guaporé River. All actions were part of the strategy to guarantee possession of the Amazon region and aimed at keeping the territorial conquests performed by the official expeditions, by the missionaries and by both official and unofficial explorers. As from the ruling of Dom João V, especially, from 1706 to 1750, Portugal started to prioritize the definition of its colonial borders with the aim of revising previous border agreements and cancel the Treaty of Tordesilla, signed in 1494. The union of the Iberic Crowns and Alexandre de Gusmãos extraordinary performance in the border negotiations resulted in the signature of the Treaty of Madrid in 1750: the settling of Brazils Amazon and the Midwest regions were legitimated by the uti possidetis argument through land ownership and the search of natural borders. In the Amazon region, Lisbon had decided to take control over the religious settlements, conducting a deep political, economic, social, administrative, judicial and religious reorganization in order to foster the territorys population, guarantee its defense and ownership. Villages were set up; missions were upgraded to the categories of villages and, above all, a string of Portuguese fortifications was built to back the outer limits of the region: São José de Marabitanas and São Gabriel da Cachoeira, at the Negro River; São Francisco Xavier de Tabatinga, at the Solimões River; São Joaquim, at the Branco River; Santo Antônio do Içá, at the delta of the Içá and Solimões Rivers; São José de Macapá, at the Amazonas River estuary; and Real Príncipe da Beira, at the Guaporé River. These fortifications allowed the definitive settling of the territory and reveal Lisbons purpose in both defending and consolidating the conquered Amazon area. Although it had been revoked shortly after it was signed, the Treaty of Madrid established the doctrinal principle which would end up prevailing in Brazils final border layout. The Portuguese colonial expansion in America occurred thanks to the incursions into the wilderness by official and unofficial explorers and missionaries; and the Treaty of Madrid the intelligence and political priority for the maintenance of such singular territorial conquest. Based on this agreement, independent Brazil would see its overall area more than tripled and would soon have to formalize its borders with the newly-formed south American nations; a process that did not take place in the remaining Hispanic America or even in North America, where major border changes occurred after independence. The Amazon region, despite all difficulties for its colonization, remained Brazilian thanks to the effort and political engagement employed by Portugal to maintain all this vast region as part of its overseas colonial empire

ASSUNTO(S)

amazon; bandeirantes; border agreements; entradistas; missionaries; official expeditions; territoria amazônia; bandeirantes; entradistas; expedições oficiais; missionários; negociações de fronteiras; o

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