Notes on the ancient Indian settlements of the upper Trombetas and Mapuera rivers, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

This is the first geographical and ethnohistorical analysis of the 1728 narrative of friar Francisco de São Manços on the first expedition to the Trombetas and Mapuera rivers in Northwestern Pará. The relevance of this document consists in the naming and approximate location of near 50 Indian ‘nations’, most of them not mentioned by later historical and ethnographical sources, including many names of their villages and local chiefs. The reconstruction of the expedition’s course showed that São Manços, known as the “Trombetas’ discoverer”, had in fact traveled mostly through the Mapuera, its western tributary, up to the Guyana highlands. Outstanding in the author’s scarce ethnographic information, there are references to a two levels political chieftainship, and to war as means to capture slaves targeted to trade for goods.

Keywords

• Capuchin Order
• Geographical explorations
• Ethnohistory
• Trombetas River
• Mapuera River
• Amazon