Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Cracking Down on the Cunhamenas : Renegade Amazonian Traders under Pombaline Reform

2006; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 38; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022216x0600160x

1469-767X

Bárbara Sommer,

Indigenous Health and Education

The 1750 Treaty of Madrid prompted Portuguese civil and ecclesiastical authorities under Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (later the Marquis of Pombal) to strengthen crown control of the Brazilian Amazon. Pombal's brother, Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, governor and captain-general of the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, and Bishop Fr. Miguel de Bulhões e Sousa sought to supplant the missionaries, especially the Jesuits, and rein in autonomous backwoods Indian traders, called cunhamenas (Tupi for male in-law). The Lisbon Inquisition collaborated by prosecuting the infamous mameluco Pedro de Braga, a powerful interethnic intermediary on the Rio Negro, who was condemned for practicing indigenous rites and accepting multiple wives from tribal chiefs.