Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Algumas considerações sobre a ocupação européia da região do Guairá nos séculos XVI e XVII

2008; UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE MARINGÁ; Volume: 24; Linguagem: Inglês

10.4025/actascihumansoc.v24i0.2450

1807-8656

Flávio Leite Costa, Sezinando Luiz Menezes,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

The European population nucleus in the Guaira region during the 16 th and 17 th centuries had its own dynamics for its development and its destructurization. An analysis of works that describe the destruction of these populations shows that the “bandeirantismo paulista” was the main factor towards their disruption. However, analysis of documents, published by Jaime Cortesao, specifically on the Guaira region of Guaira, indicates that this problem has to be inserted into a more extensive context. In fact, the “bandeirantismo” first of all preyed on the Indians and its participation in the process of European evacuation of this region may be understood if the social relations extant in the region are taken into consideration. The social relations mentioned above deal with the manner Indians, Jesuits and Spaniards lived and how they developed their contacts with the Portuguese. Native labor, supervised by the Jesuits or by the “encomenderos”, was responsible for the permanence of the colonizers in the region. Due to the good relationship between the Paulistas and the government of Paraguay and due to the constant arrests of Indians by the “bandeirantes”, the destructuring of the social and economic internal system of the region occurred. Such destruction caused the evacuation of the European from the region.