Book contents
- The Making of Brazilian Amazonian Societies
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
- The Making of Brazilian Amazonian Societies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Note on the Images and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Indigenous Worlds on the Amazon River and the Origins of the European Sphere in the Sixteenth Century
- 2 Colonial Space and Fluvial Patterns
- 3 Coming Out of the Forests?
- 4 The Making of the Sertão
- 5 Riverine Villages and Indigenous Regional Networks in the Early Eighteenth Century
- 6 Family, Marriage, and Place in the Riverine Communities near the Lower Amazon River
- 7 ‘In the Forest We Don’t Accept the Grace of God’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
2 - Colonial Space and Fluvial Patterns
Invaded Territories of the Eastern Amazon in the Early Seventeenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2025
Book contents
- The Making of Brazilian Amazonian Societies
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
- The Making of Brazilian Amazonian Societies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Note on the Images and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Indigenous Worlds on the Amazon River and the Origins of the European Sphere in the Sixteenth Century
- 2 Colonial Space and Fluvial Patterns
- 3 Coming Out of the Forests?
- 4 The Making of the Sertão
- 5 Riverine Villages and Indigenous Regional Networks in the Early Eighteenth Century
- 6 Family, Marriage, and Place in the Riverine Communities near the Lower Amazon River
- 7 ‘In the Forest We Don’t Accept the Grace of God’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
Summary
Chapter 2 examines a period when various European traders attempted to settle in the Amazon by forming local alliances with Indigenous peoples. Although the numbers of these non-Iberian Europeans were tiny, the impact of their partnerships, and the resulting effort by the Portuguese and their allies to eliminate their presence, caused immeasurable damage to native societies in the estuarine areas. By 1640, the Portuguese had expelled the other European interlopers and exacted revenge on the Indigenous allies of their enemies, and started to establish riverbank settlements and plantations. In turn, this led the Portuguese to require labour to service this colonial economy and support their territorial ambitions. They pushed up the Amazon as far as the Tapajós and Madeira rivers to obtain their slaves from the riverbank polities, which gave rise to Belém as the focal point of the Eastern Amazon and marked the beginnings of the formation of a colonial sphere.
Information
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- Chapter
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- The Making of Brazilian Amazonian SocietiesA Study in Ethnographic and Spatial History, pp. 67 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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