Tupinambá
Nation | Defunct
1 CE to 2215 CE
The Tupinambá are one of the various Tupi ethnic groups that inhabit present-day Brazil before the conquest of the region by Portuguese colonial settlers.
The Tupinambás live in São Luis, Maranhão.
Their language survives today in the form of Nheengatu.
The Tupinambás are abundantly described in the Cosmographie universelle (1572) of André Thevet, in Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Brésil (1578), by Jean de Léry and Hans Staden's True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World.
Thevet and Léry are an inspiration for Montaigne's famous essay Des Cannibales, and influence the creation of the myth of the "noble savage" during the Enlightenment.
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The Portuguese begin to import more enslaved African slaves as native resistance, social disintegration, and flight into the interior increases in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
In 1570 there are two thousand to three thousand such slaves in Brazil; by 1587 there are fourteen thousand.
Considering that the European population in 1570 is twenty thousand seven hundred and sixty and in 1585 is twenty-nine thousand four hundred, the growth of enslaved Africans from fourteen percent of the number of whites to forty-seven percent is striking.
Much of the commentary on native slavery holds that the natives were unfit physically to be slaves, when actually it was their strong resistance to slavery and the colonial competition for their labor that led to the African slave trade.
Also, the focus of many historians on Bahia and Pernambuco has left readers with the impression that native slavery gave way to African slavery throughout Brazil by 1600.
This is not the case.
Natives continue to be enslaved in Para, which will cause the depopulation of much of Amazonia by the mid-eighteenth century.
In 1570 there are two thousand to three thousand such slaves in Brazil; by 1587 there are fourteen thousand.
Considering that the European population in 1570 is twenty thousand seven hundred and sixty and in 1585 is twenty-nine thousand four hundred, the growth of enslaved Africans from fourteen percent of the number of whites to forty-seven percent is striking.
Much of the commentary on native slavery holds that the natives were unfit physically to be slaves, when actually it was their strong resistance to slavery and the colonial competition for their labor that led to the African slave trade.
Also, the focus of many historians on Bahia and Pernambuco has left readers with the impression that native slavery gave way to African slavery throughout Brazil by 1600.
This is not the case.
Natives continue to be enslaved in Para, which will cause the depopulation of much of Amazonia by the mid-eighteenth century.
Ilheus, Espirito Santo, São Tome, Santo Amaro, and Santa Anna also fail because of poor management and hostile relations with the natives.
The coast is now exposed to French incursions.
Such an outcome is not what the crown had in mind, and it decides wisely to listen to warnings.
The king, rather than replace inept donatário with others, establishes direct royal control, except over Pernambuco and São Vicente.
The crown may have acted at this juncture for several reasons: the Spanish discovery of the famed silver mountain at Potosí (1545), the decline of the Asian spice trade, and the crown's practice of reclaiming royal control after some years of leasing its rights.
The enhancement of royal power is part of the general Iberian pattern of establishing royal control over the sprawling colonial ventures.
In a larger sense, renewed royal control appears to have been linked to a new conservatism in Catholic Europe.
The Council of Trent (1545-63) defines church dogma and practice, religious tolerance fades, and the Inquisition is emplaced in Portugal in 1547.
The king names Thomé de Sousa the first governor general of Brazil (1549-53).
He orders Sousa to create a capital city, Salvador, on the Bahia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) and to spread the royal mantle over the captaincies, defending the weaker ones and reestablishing the failed ones.
Because native attacks are blamed for the failures, Sousa's orders amount to a declaration of war on the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
If they can be defeated, the French will have no allies and so will be less of a threat.
In addition, Sousa is to increase royal revenues.
The twin objectives of control and revenue are characteristic of royal policy for the rest of the colonial era.
Bahia, as the city and province will be known, is selected for its central location and its fine bay, and because the crown has purchased it from the heirs of the donatário.
Sousa builds fortifications, a town, and sugar mills.
His knottiest task is forming a policy on the natives, whose status remains unclear.
Although he has treasury and coast guard officials with him, their roles are oriented toward Portuguese colonists and European interlopers.
The crown had placed the natives under its "protection" as early as 1511, and it orders Sousa to treat them well, as long as they are peaceful, so that they can be converted.
Conversion is essential because Portugal's legal claims to Brazil are based on papal bulls requiring Christianization of the natives.
However, those who resist conversion are likened to Muslims and can be enslaved.
In fact, as historian Sergio Buarque de Holanda has shown, by identifying Brazil as a destination of the wandering Apostle St. Thomas the Portuguese settlers are able to argue that all natives had had their chance to convert and had rejected it, so they can be conquered and taken captive legitimately.
Thus, a distinction is made between peaceful, pliable natives who as wards deserve crown protection and those resisters who want to keep their independence and on whom 'just war" can be made and slavery imposed.
The dual mission of the governors is contradictory: how can they stimulate the economy using slave labor while converting the natives?
The coast is now exposed to French incursions.
Such an outcome is not what the crown had in mind, and it decides wisely to listen to warnings.
The king, rather than replace inept donatário with others, establishes direct royal control, except over Pernambuco and São Vicente.
The crown may have acted at this juncture for several reasons: the Spanish discovery of the famed silver mountain at Potosí (1545), the decline of the Asian spice trade, and the crown's practice of reclaiming royal control after some years of leasing its rights.
The enhancement of royal power is part of the general Iberian pattern of establishing royal control over the sprawling colonial ventures.
In a larger sense, renewed royal control appears to have been linked to a new conservatism in Catholic Europe.
The Council of Trent (1545-63) defines church dogma and practice, religious tolerance fades, and the Inquisition is emplaced in Portugal in 1547.
The king names Thomé de Sousa the first governor general of Brazil (1549-53).
He orders Sousa to create a capital city, Salvador, on the Bahia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) and to spread the royal mantle over the captaincies, defending the weaker ones and reestablishing the failed ones.
Because native attacks are blamed for the failures, Sousa's orders amount to a declaration of war on the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
If they can be defeated, the French will have no allies and so will be less of a threat.
In addition, Sousa is to increase royal revenues.
The twin objectives of control and revenue are characteristic of royal policy for the rest of the colonial era.
Bahia, as the city and province will be known, is selected for its central location and its fine bay, and because the crown has purchased it from the heirs of the donatário.
Sousa builds fortifications, a town, and sugar mills.
His knottiest task is forming a policy on the natives, whose status remains unclear.
Although he has treasury and coast guard officials with him, their roles are oriented toward Portuguese colonists and European interlopers.
The crown had placed the natives under its "protection" as early as 1511, and it orders Sousa to treat them well, as long as they are peaceful, so that they can be converted.
Conversion is essential because Portugal's legal claims to Brazil are based on papal bulls requiring Christianization of the natives.
However, those who resist conversion are likened to Muslims and can be enslaved.
In fact, as historian Sergio Buarque de Holanda has shown, by identifying Brazil as a destination of the wandering Apostle St. Thomas the Portuguese settlers are able to argue that all natives had had their chance to convert and had rejected it, so they can be conquered and taken captive legitimately.
Thus, a distinction is made between peaceful, pliable natives who as wards deserve crown protection and those resisters who want to keep their independence and on whom 'just war" can be made and slavery imposed.
The dual mission of the governors is contradictory: how can they stimulate the economy using slave labor while converting the natives?
To carry out the pacification and conversion of the Brazilian natives, the crown chooses the new Jesuit order of the Society of Jesus, which is international in membership and military in structure and which has the task of defending and spreading the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
The Jesuits have a major impact on Brazil, despite their small numbers—one hundred and twenty-eight by 1598.
The natives respond to the Jesuits with initial acceptance, then regression, evasion, and enmity.
The objective of the Jesuits is to Europeanize the natives by resettling them in native villages (aldeias).
In a recurring pattern, the first aldeia near Bahia (1552) soon disintegrates as the natives who survive the European-born diseases fade into the interior beyond the Jesuits' reach.
Europeanization is overcome by a sort of Brazilianization, as the Jesuits blend native songs, dances, and language into the liturgy and as the colonists adopt native foods, women, language, and customs.
However, the first bishop of Brazil (1551), Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha, objects to the Jesuit accommodation with indigenous culture.
He throws the weight of his authority behind subjugation and enslavement.
At issue is the nature of the future of Brazilian society.
The bishop, who has served in Goa and ironically had taught Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, insists that Europeanization must precede baptism.
He believes Brazil, like India, should have a dual society made up of heathen natives ruled by a small number of Portuguese.
The conflict between the Jesuits and the bishop has far-reaching significance for Brazil's future.
The Jesuits have a major impact on Brazil, despite their small numbers—one hundred and twenty-eight by 1598.
The natives respond to the Jesuits with initial acceptance, then regression, evasion, and enmity.
The objective of the Jesuits is to Europeanize the natives by resettling them in native villages (aldeias).
In a recurring pattern, the first aldeia near Bahia (1552) soon disintegrates as the natives who survive the European-born diseases fade into the interior beyond the Jesuits' reach.
Europeanization is overcome by a sort of Brazilianization, as the Jesuits blend native songs, dances, and language into the liturgy and as the colonists adopt native foods, women, language, and customs.
However, the first bishop of Brazil (1551), Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha, objects to the Jesuit accommodation with indigenous culture.
He throws the weight of his authority behind subjugation and enslavement.
At issue is the nature of the future of Brazilian society.
The bishop, who has served in Goa and ironically had taught Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, insists that Europeanization must precede baptism.
He believes Brazil, like India, should have a dual society made up of heathen natives ruled by a small number of Portuguese.
The conflict between the Jesuits and the bishop has far-reaching significance for Brazil's future.
Likewise, Bahia fails at this stage because its donatário lack managerial skills.
Many of the Portuguese there are veterans of India, where abuse of the natives is routine.
The Tupinambá finally tire of the mistreatment, and many of the Portuguese at Bahia, including the donatário, are captured and ceremonially killed and eaten.
Many of the Portuguese there are veterans of India, where abuse of the natives is routine.
The Tupinambá finally tire of the mistreatment, and many of the Portuguese at Bahia, including the donatário, are captured and ceremonially killed and eaten.
The crown sends out a new bishop and a new governor to consolidate royal control and to bring organization to the far-flung settlements on the verge of collapse.
The new crown representatives support Jesuit methods and return the Jesuits to Bahia.
By protecting the natives who live in aldeias from enslavement, the crown representatives make the Jesuit towns more attractive.
The pool of slaves available to the colonists dwindles, causing such protests that Mem de Sa (governor, 1558-72) approves a 'just war" against the Caetá to punish them for killing Brazil's first bishop.
However, the "just war" soon gets out of hand as the closer and undefended aldeias are raided for slaves.
The conflict damages native trust in the missions, and the epidemics of influenza, smallpox, and measles in 1562 and 1563 decimate the native population and increase colonist competition for laborers.
The famine that follows the waves of disease prompts starving natives to sell themselves or their relatives in order to survive.
This situation leads to a policy under which the natives are considered free but can be enslaved in a sanctioned "just war," or for cannibalism, or if rescued from being eaten or enslaved by other natives.
Government-sponsored expeditions (entradas) into the interior, sometimes ironically called rescues (resgates), become slave hunts under the guise of 'just war."
The Paulista expeditions (bandeiras), one of the major themes of Brazilian history in the 1600s and 1700s, develop out of this practice.
The eventual exploitation of the interior and the development of gold and gem mining in Minas Gerais, Goias, and Mato Grosso have roots in the voracious appetite of coastal plantations for slave labor.
The new crown representatives support Jesuit methods and return the Jesuits to Bahia.
By protecting the natives who live in aldeias from enslavement, the crown representatives make the Jesuit towns more attractive.
The pool of slaves available to the colonists dwindles, causing such protests that Mem de Sa (governor, 1558-72) approves a 'just war" against the Caetá to punish them for killing Brazil's first bishop.
However, the "just war" soon gets out of hand as the closer and undefended aldeias are raided for slaves.
The conflict damages native trust in the missions, and the epidemics of influenza, smallpox, and measles in 1562 and 1563 decimate the native population and increase colonist competition for laborers.
The famine that follows the waves of disease prompts starving natives to sell themselves or their relatives in order to survive.
This situation leads to a policy under which the natives are considered free but can be enslaved in a sanctioned "just war," or for cannibalism, or if rescued from being eaten or enslaved by other natives.
Government-sponsored expeditions (entradas) into the interior, sometimes ironically called rescues (resgates), become slave hunts under the guise of 'just war."
The Paulista expeditions (bandeiras), one of the major themes of Brazilian history in the 1600s and 1700s, develop out of this practice.
The eventual exploitation of the interior and the development of gold and gem mining in Minas Gerais, Goias, and Mato Grosso have roots in the voracious appetite of coastal plantations for slave labor.
The Jesuits in Brazil, to get away from Bishop Sardinha's direct grasp, shift their attention to the south, where they form, in 1554, the aldeia of São Paulo de Piratininga on the plateau at the headwaters of the Rio Tiete high above São Vicente.
Father Jose de Anchieta's mission village later becomes known as the city of São Paulo.
The crown seemingly favors the Jesuit approach because it recalls Bishop Sardinha.
En route back, Sardinha is shipwrecked, then killed and reportedly eaten by Caeté people.
Father Jose de Anchieta's mission village later becomes known as the city of São Paulo.
The crown seemingly favors the Jesuit approach because it recalls Bishop Sardinha.
En route back, Sardinha is shipwrecked, then killed and reportedly eaten by Caeté people.
Mem de Sá, who is the consolidator of Portuguese Brazil, deals successfully with the French threat in addition to dealing with labor supply.
The French have continued to attack Portuguese shipping and to maintain interest in a permanent colony.
Noting that Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay has not been occupied, Vice Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, a French navigator, leads a mix of Huguenots and Catholic here in 1555 to establish a colony, France Antarctique, on Ilha de Sergipe.
His Utopian dream of finding a religious refuge for Protestants and Catholics fails after a decade.
Despite their good relations with the natives, the French cannot withstand the Portuguese assaults that begin in 1565.
This year, to ensure future control of the bay, Mem de Sá founds the city of Rio de Janeiro, which becomes the second royal captaincy.
The French have continued to attack Portuguese shipping and to maintain interest in a permanent colony.
Noting that Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay has not been occupied, Vice Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, a French navigator, leads a mix of Huguenots and Catholic here in 1555 to establish a colony, France Antarctique, on Ilha de Sergipe.
His Utopian dream of finding a religious refuge for Protestants and Catholics fails after a decade.
Despite their good relations with the natives, the French cannot withstand the Portuguese assaults that begin in 1565.
This year, to ensure future control of the bay, Mem de Sá founds the city of Rio de Janeiro, which becomes the second royal captaincy.