Royal Treasury Ombudsman and Pernambuco’s Customs management and operation – 1701-1725

Abstract

In this paper we intend to demonstrate the operation of the customs and the composition of their royal employees mainly using the Pernambuco example as from the documentation available in Brazil. The Pernambuco Ombudsman of the Royal Treasury and the Customs were overlapped in the first half of the eighteenth century. In the first part we will try to demonstrate the power of the administrator of these two institutions and how his family remained for many generations in the Ombudsman’s office and the Customs Judge. In the second we will seek clarify the internal operation of Pernambuco’s Customs; the changes in the context of his officers; the concern of the crown as the suitability of the officership; quarrels between the senior managers of the crown in Pernambuco.

Keywords

• Provedoria, fazenda, administração, fiscalidade, comércio