Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Under the Colonial Mask

2007; Cambridge University Press; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

1953-8146

Laurent Vidal,

History of Colonial Brazil

Under colonial mask Emergence and decline of a vila in modern Brazil Vila Boa de Goia s in eighteenth century This article discusses the emergence and the installation of urban life in the peripheral spaces of early modern Brazil. It is based on the case of Vila Boa, located in the heart of the mining region of Goias at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This town of gold panners (arraial), settled in 1727, was given the status of vila in 1739, before becoming the capital of the Goia s captaincy in 1749. Between the city project (trying to stamp the marks of power in the local space), the city in the present (with its organization and other negotiations), and the city in expectation (waiting for decisions from the king or the viceroy), Vila Boa cleared itself a path. When, with the decrease of the production of gold, the “colonial project”lost much of its strength, it was a creolized city that emerged – sanctioned by the word “decline”, which was attached to it by the colonial authorities.