The Conquest of the Sertão

To the bandeirante expeditions were responsible for initiating the occupation of the interior of the country. Usually these men were from São Paulo and departed from the Captaincy of São Vicente. They were always armed and acted with extreme violence in capturing escaped natives and enslaved blacks.

When the Portuguese arrived with their caravels in Brazil in the year 1500, the domain was limited to a narrow coastal strip. The territory between the coast and the Tordesillas meridian, called the sertão, remained unknown to explorers and occupied by a wide variety of indigenous tribes. In the colonial period, part of the Brazilian territory belonged to the Spanish Crown, but the European metropolis had not taken possession of its domains.

Military Expeditions

In the period between the years 1580 to 1640, in which the Portuguese and Spanish were under the same Crown, the territories below meridian of Tordesillas were crossed by military expeditions formed by adventurers in search of riches, lands and indians. Financed by the government or by private individuals, these expeditions played an important role in clearing and populating the “sertão”.

You paulista bandeirantes (as the trailblazers became known) during their hunting expeditions or capturing indigenous people helped the Portuguese to conquer the south and central-west regions of the colony.

Official military expeditions mainly occupied the north and northeast regions, this entry into previously unknown territories it was a way of guaranteeing Portuguese dominion over the newly discovered lands and preventing other metropolises from venturing into the territory. region. Cattle breeders entered the Northeast and South of the country with their herds, starting a new economic activity, which to this day represent a strong feature of the economy Brazilian.

Another group that also entered the interior of Brazil and helped in its development were the Jesuit missionaries. The order formed by religious of the Catholic Church dedicated themselves to “taming” the indigenous people through the teaching of their doctrine. In order to help the colonizers in dealing with the natives, the Jesuits founded villages known as missions or reductions.

Economic Practices

When talking about the colonial period, we develop an erroneous idea about economic practices. The books talk so much about sugarcane cultivation that we absorb the idea that in Brazil there was only this activity. However, the creation of cattle represented an important practice for the development of the colony, whether to meet the subsistence and transport needs of the mills or to obtain beef jerky and leather.

Driving the cattle herds was carried out by the tropeiros, in addition to driving the animals it was the responsibility of these men to buy and sell the cattle. Cattle raising did not require the employment of a large number of workers, the cowboys were, in general, indigenous and freed or escaped blacks. Generally, the payment of the tropeiros was made through heads of cattle. Thus, these men began the formation of their own herds, which enabled the rapid expansion of this activity.

The more livestock was developed, the need to conquer new lands for pasture grew. That way the territory would be quickly occupied. Cattle were raised in an extensive regime, that is, released in the pastures, which led to the formation of large farms in the Northeast.

Tickets and Flags

During the seventeenth century, the military expeditions known as flags, explored the territory in search of indigenous peoples and riches, mainly precious metals. Groups of bandeirantes departed from the Captaincy of São Vicente towards the interior of Brazil. Armed and determined to conquer their objectives, the bandeirantes' participants acted on their own, using these private expeditions to capture and trade the natives. They spent long months in the woods in search of precious stones, venturing beyond the meridian of Tordesillas.

In addition to the flags, the other expeditions of that period went to Appetizer. Funded by the government, their purpose was to demarcate the territory, imprison indigenous people and exploit precious metal mines. Unlike the flags, the entrances used to respect the limits of the Meridian of Tordesillas. Bandeirantes were considered heroes for a long time, honorees became the name of squares, streets, highways and their busts still adorn some cities, however the current historiography has been reviewing this vision.

Despite assisting in the occupation of the interior, these important characters in our history were responsible for the great slaughter of indigenous people and the deforestation of our forests. The bandeirantes imprisoned about one hundred thousand natives. Even the Jesuit missions suffered attacks from these expeditions, as the indigenous people who lived in these villages were prepared for work, they ended up being a coveted prey.

With the sugar crisis of the 17th century, bandeirante expeditions to capture indigenous peoples were decreasing. The increased need for labor spurred the intensification of the African slave trade, which turned into a lucrative trade for the colony.

Main Bandeirantes

Fernão Dias Pais; Manuel Borba Gato; Bartolomeu Bueno da Veiga (Anhanguera); Domingo Jorge Velho; Antônio Raposo Tavares; Nicholas Barreto; Manuel black; Jerome Leitão; Francisco Bueno.

Lorena Castro Alves
Graduated in History and Pedagogy