Direitos de propriedade em terras rebeldes: as sesmarias dos Palmares de Pernambuco, 1678-1775

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of land granting (sesmarias) in Portuguese America by focusing on a specific case study: the lands belonging to the former and defeated communities of the Palmares maroons, in the captaincy of Pernambuco. Through the empirical data, it will point to issues regarding the changes in the sesmarias legal rules and in the practice of land appropriation in Portuguese America, from the 17th to the 18th century. The case of the Palmares hinterland sheds light on the litigation over land rights and royal favors that characterized, more generally, the relations between crown and subjects in the overseas territories. We have charted the granting of sesmarias to the “conquerors” of the Palmares maroons’ lands in two different periods (1678-1702 and 1702-1775), focusing on (1) the overlapping rights and jurisdictions of the grantees, (2) on the rhetoric used in the request letters and (3) on the plural nature of the sesmarias that emerges from this process, showing a variety of expectations and appropriations by the historical actors involved.

Keywords

• maroon
• Palmares
• agrarian history
• Pernambuco
• colonial Brazil
• property rights