Indigenous peoples and new urban experiences: Pombal reformism, political participation and collaborative network research

REFORMISMO POMBALINO, PARTICIPAÇÃO POLÍTICA E PESQUISA EM REDE COLABORATIVA

Abstract

The second half of the 18th century is important to understand the presence of indigenous peoples in urban contexts in Portuguese America. The administration of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo profoundly reconfigured colonial policy toward indigenous peoples, reasserting old rights to freedom and land ownership and creating new possibilities for political participation. He also multiplied the urban network, achieving much of this goal by elevating several indigenous villages and missions to towns and places that began to bear Portuguese names and enjoy political and judicial prerogatives. The objective of this paper is to analyze this historical process, highlighting the different agendas and interests that prevailed between the indigenous peoples and the metropolitan and colonial authorities. Maps will also be discussed and presented, with the geolocation of the new towns and places erected in the different captaincies of the states of Brazil and of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, produced as a result of data collected by the research group Vilas Indígenas Pombalinas, registered at CNPq - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.