Immigration, family relationships and economic activities in southern Brazil: forms of entry and social mobility of three Azoreans in coastal areas of captaincy of São Paulo (Morretes and Paranaguá, 1780-1820)

Abstract

The present study includes an investigation into the rooting and social mobility process of three Azorean immigrants in two coastal areas of Captaincy of São Paulo – the district of Morretes and municipality of Paranaguá – between the years of 1780 and 1820. The main purpose of this article is to produce knowledge about the nature of social and economic opportunities that Azoreans took part in the migratory flow to coastal areas of Southern Brazil in the second half of the 18th century. In this context, the central argument of this investigation states that, in the context of the 1780s, Azorean immigration to the southern tip of the São Paulo captaincy was sometimes a family project. In this way, the existence of forms of solidarity between members of different generations between Azorean and Portuguese immigrants is pointed out. In this context, two sources are used. Initially, matrimonial dispensing processes are studied, which contain information about the beginning of the social roots of the three Azoreans listed here. Two nominative lists of inhabitants are also studied, which makes it possible to know the fate of these immigrants in the early nineteenth century.