From Brazil's Central Highlands to Africa's Ports: Trans-Atlantic and Continental Trade Connections in Goods and Slaves

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Notes

1. ‘The gold of Minas was a magnet for the people of Brazil, and it was by this allure that much of the population of its captaincies (especially of the province of Bahia) rushed there in its pursuit’ (Pita 1976, 232).

2. Márcio Roberto Alves dos Santos argues that the Crown's prohibitions were ineffective and that ‘it was only when the city of Rio de Janeiro consolidated itself as the major entrepot for the captaincy of Minas Gerais that the Bahia Road lost its importance’ (Santos 2001, 145).

3. Especially Mathias Cardoso, Antônio Gonçalves, Brás Esteves Leme (1715), and the brothers Domingos and Francisco Dias do Prado (1727). The Paulistas discovered the gold and were the first settlers in Minas Gerais. Their expeditions of discovery were known as bandeiras (flag missions) and the explorers themselves as bandeirantes.

4. Santos offers the major contribution to our understanding of the occupation of the sertão linking Bahia and Minas and the use of the road between the two.

5. ‘On a ranch, known as 'do Paulista, [so-called] because it was once home to these men, there had been many cattle, but the ranchers decided to leave because of the number of jaguars, which killed their cows. To this day you can still see the ruins of houses and corrals from this settlement.’ Stuttgart. Robert Bosch Collection (hereafter RBC) n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, relatada pelos três irmãos chamados Nunes os quais rodarão muytos annos por estas partes. In: Jean-Baptiste Bourguigon d'Anville, a collection of eight manuscripts and treatises, of which five refer to Brazil, 4.

6. Suggestion made by the Diamond Intendent, Tomás de Barros Barreto, as a means of transporting saltpeter between Juazeiro and the Paulo Afonso waterfall, which had been mined in the Serra dos Montes Altos, near Tejuco (‘Ofício do Desembargador Thomaz Roby de Barros Barreto, Tejuco, 22 March 1758,’ 1909, 281).

7. For example, the German traveler Johann Moritz Rugendas, who depicted the lagoon in one of the watercolors he produced in Brazil. His paintings can be seen in Rugendas 1998.

8. RBC n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 1–2.

9. The etymology of the word ‘emboabas’ is unclear and its meaning is flexible. Sometimes it was used to refer to the Portuguese alone, while on other occasions it could designate all non-Paulistas, from Portugal, Bahia, Pernambuco, etc. It was also used to distinguish those who originally opened the mines, i.e., the Paulistas, from all later arrivals, who were accused of exploiting a resource they had done nothing to locate in the first place. On other occasions the term can be understood as referring to all travelers who arrived via the Bahia Road, as opposed to the route from São Paulo. See Russell-Wood 1999, 100–18.

10. The seasons in Minas Gerais are quite distinct, with a dry season that stretches from April to September and a rainy season from October to March. As gold panning was mostly done in riverbeds, the activity was pursued during dry season, which meant most traveling through the sertão was done during the rains.

11. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 1–2.

12. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 7–8.

13. A very popular fruit tree.

14. The wood from this large tree was frequently used to make utensils, while rubber could be extracted from its bark.

15. A tree native to the Brazilian semi-arid region whose roots have tubers that retain water. The plum-like fruit is much appreciated.

16. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 1–20.

17. Belo Horizonte, Arquivo Público Mineiro (hereafter APM), Câmara Municipal de Ouro Preto 06, ff. 12v–14.

18. APM. Seção Colonial (hereafter SC) 18, f. 13.

19. ‘Carambola’ or ‘quilombolo’; former slaves from maroon colonies. See ‘Atas da Câmara Municipal de Villa Rica (1711–1715)’ 1927, 307.

20. Lisbon, Arquivos Nacionais da Torre do Tombo (hereafter ANTT) Testamentária de Francisco Pinheiro, Carta 167, maço 29, f. 271.

21. In the interest of protecting cargo vessels from pirates on sea routes, it had already been prohibited for ships to cross the Atlantic between Brazil and Portugal outside of convoys. Each fleet consisted of merchant ships escorted by warships. During the eighteenth century, there were three annual convoys to Pernambuco, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro, respectively, as well as a secondary fleet bound for Maranhão and Pará. Ships were obliged to set sail from Portugal between October and mid-February, but departures from Brazil were more erratic, generally leaving in March, April, or May, in the case of ships from Rio (Furtado 1999, 99–102).

22. ‘Encontrando quilombos … ,’ (Anais da Biblioteca Nacional 108 [1988], 56–57) cited in Souza 1997, 1:66–67.

23. Sabará, Museu Ouro (hereafter MO), Casa Borba Gato (hereafter CBG) Testamento L3(8), ff. 116v–26v.

24. MO, CBG Testamento L3(8), ff. 107–16.

25. MO, CBG Testamento L2(6), f. 98v–103v.

26. Lisbon, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (hereafter AHU), Mapoteca, n.167/980.

27. APM. SC. 21, f. 10.

28. This was in force only until 1725, as thenceforth gold dust circulation was prohibited inside the captaincy as well. To prevent smuggling, smelting houses were created to process all raw gold into bars that could be exchanged for gold coins at the captaincy's checkpoints.

29. APM, SC 10, f. 4.

30. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, p. 3.

31. APM, SC 11, ff. 55–56.

32. ‘Motins do sertão. Carta de Martinho de Mendonça ao Secretário Antônio Guedes de 23 de dezembro de 1737,’ 1986, 1: 664–70.

33. ‘Motins do sertão. Carta de Martinho de Mendonça de 29 de junho de 1736 e 17 de outubro de 1737,’ 1986, 1: 649, 662.

34. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 5.

35. Though the Holy Office was never officially installed in the captaincy, lay officers with ties to the institution had powers to denounce, arrest, and even confiscate the property of New Christians suspected of Judaism, some of whom were sent back to Lisbon to stand trial.

36. ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, Processo de Diogo Nunes Ribeiro, n.7488.

37. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal. For a more complete assessment of this itinerary, see Furtado and Safier 2006, 263–77.

38. There is an existing historiography on the search for Eden in the Americas, as example see Holanda 1994, Souza 1986, and on applications of these notions to the Minas sertão, Langfur 2006, 49–54.

39. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 11.

40. PM, SC 01. Regimento dos Superintendentes, guarda-mores e mais oficiais deputados para as minas de ouro, ff. 37–38.

41. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 6.

42. MO, CBG. Testamento de Lucas Pereira do Lago, L6(12), ff. 127–32.

43. ANTT. Testamentária de Francisco Pinheiro. Carta 138. Maço 18, ff. 880–81.

44. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 7.

45. RBC. n.555 (1). Noticias das minas da America chamadas Geraes pertencentes à el rei de Portugal, 5.

46. MO, CBG. Testamento de Jerônimo da Costa Valle, L3(8), ff. 107–8.

47. MO, CBG. Testamento de Manoel Ferreira Leal, L3(8), ff. 116v–26v.

48. MO, CBG. Testamento de José Ribeiro Manso, L7(13), ff. 104v–12.

49. MO, CBG. Testamento de Manoel Pinto de Souza, L4(9), ff. 97–101.

50. MO, CBG. Testamento de Manoel Ferreira Leal, L3(8), ff. 116v–26v.

51. MO, CBG. Testamento de Maria de Freitas, L3(8), ff. 94v–101v.

52. MO, CBG. Testamento de Simão Alves da Ferreira, L2(6), ff. 98v–103v.

53. MO, CBG. Testamento de Manoel Madureira Pinto, L2(6), ff. 80v–83.

54. MO, CBG. Testamento de José Ribeiro Manso, L7(13), ff. 104v–12.

55. MO, CBG. Testamento de Rafael Monteiro Heires, L2(6), ff. 70v–76v.

56. Costa e Silva 2003.

57. The Portuguese referred to the coastal region stretching from Cape Palmas to the river Volta as the Costa da Mina or Mina Coast. See Law 2005, 247–67.

58. MO, CBG. Testamento de Manoel Ferreira Leal, L3(8), ff. 116v–26v.

59. MO, CBG. Testamento de Jerônimo da Costa Valle, L3(8), ff. 107–8.

60. The slave trade with Africa at the port of Rio de Janeiro was also monopolized by local traders. See, among others, Florentino 1997.

61. A Portuguese territory established in 1690 on the banks of the River Plate directly opposite Buenos Aires, then under the jurisdiction of the government of Rio de Janeiro. It was via smuggling in the Colônia do Sacramento that the Portuguese had access to the silver produced in Spanish America.