The historical context of Colonial Brazil was fundamentally evident from the 18th century, with the beginning of movements of contestation against the current colonial order (abuses and injustices and feelings of abandonment) undertaken by the government Portuguese. From this century on, we can see an early formation of a feeling of identity among the colonists, distancing them from Portuguese interests and culture.
The first movements to contest Portuguese colonial policy were not yet characterized by movements consolidated and with defined political projects, but as regionalized movements, without a more political articulation. wide.
In the 18th century, the Paulistas (Bandeirantes) discovered gold in the region that was renamed Minas, soon after the disclosure of the presence of gold in the interior of Brazil, the "race" and the dispute for the precious metal started; several people and adventurers came from the northeastern captaincies and from Portugal in search of enrichment. Such ambition brought conflict and destruction.
When they arrived in the gold-bearing regions, the Northeastern and the Portuguese were called by the paulistas “Emboabas”. pejorative that referred to the outsiders who invaded the region, in Tupi the word emboaba means “birds of feathers feathered”.
With the exploration of gold in Minas, the region soon increased significantly in population and, consequently, also increased the trade in handicrafts and food. With the population growth in the gold region and from the commercial development, serious conflicts broke out; on one side the Emboabas and on the other, the paulistas.
With the outbreak of conflict in 1708, around 300 people from São Paulo lost their lives, attempts at negotiations were undertaken, but without success, the paulistas were betrayed by the emboabas, the latter assured to spare the lives of paulistas who surrendered, but that wasn't it what happened when the paulistas handed over their weapons, several were killed, this event became known in history as Capão da Betrayal.
The Paulistas did not consider themselves defeated, they organized themselves in São Paulo and began a new conflict with the Emboabas, which the colonial government tried to prevent, but without success. The conflict without winners led the paulistas to give up on the region.
In the year 1709, the colonial government separated the captaincy of São Paulo and Minas from Rio de Janeiro, only in the year 1720 there was a separation between the captaincy of São Paulo and Minas.
After giving up on the Minas region, the paulistas (Bandeirantes) went further into the interior of Brazil, discovering gold in Mato Grosso (Cuiabá) and, later, in Goiás (Arraial de Sant'Anna, which later became Vila Boa de Goiás and later, Cidade de Goiás).
Leandro Carvalho
Master in History