User:Lynadg/sandbox

EDIT 1
Many of the details surrounding the inner political and social structure of the quilombos remain a mystery, and the information available today is limited by the fact that it usually comes from colonial accounts of their destruction (Schwartz 8 - 9). We know more about the Quilombo dos Palmares because it was "the longest-lived and largest fugitive community" in Colonial Brazil (Schwartz 12). Like any polity, Palmares and other quilombos changed over time (Schwartz 9). Quilombos drew on both African and European influences, often emulating the realities of colonial society in Brazil (Schwartz 6, 7, 10). In Palmares, slavery, which also existed in Africa, continued (Schwartz 10). Quilombos, like plantations, were most likely composed of people from different African groups (Schwartz 6). Religious syncretism, often combining African and Christian elements, was prevalent (Schwartz 10). The Bahian quilombo of Buraco de Tatu is described as a "well-organized" village in which people probably practiced monogamy and lived on rectangular shaped houses that made up neat rows, emulating a plantation senzala (Schwartz 5- 6). Quilombos were often well fortified, with swampy dikes and false roads leading to "covered traps" and "sharpened stakes," like those used in Africa (Schwartz 6). The gender imbalance among African slaves was a result of the planters' preference for male labor, and men in quilombos not only raided for crops and goods, but for women; the women taken back to the quilombos were often black or mulatto (Schwartz 2, 5).

In Minas Gerais, the mining economy particularly favored the formation of quilombos (Schwartz 7). The skilled slaves that worked in mines were highly valuable to their owners, but, as long as they continued to cede their findings, they were often allowed freedom of movement within the mining districts (Schwartz 7 - 8). Slaves and freed blacks made up to three-fourths of the region's population, and runaways could easily hide among the "sea of coloreds" (Schwartz 7 - 8) The region's mountains and large tracts of unsettled land, provided potential hideouts (Schwartz 7 -8). Civil unrest combined with other forms of resistance against the colonial government severely hindered the anti-quilombo efforts of slaveowners and local authorities (Schwartz 7). In fact, to the dismay of colonial authorities, slaves participated in these anti-government movements, often armed by their owners (Schwartz 7).

As mentioned, indigenous people could be both allies and enemies of runaway slaves. From the late 1500s and as late as 1627, in southern Bahia, a "syncretic Messianic religion" called Santidade gained popularity among both indigenous people and runaway slaves, who joined forces and carried out raids in the region, even stealing slaves from Salvador (Schwartz 4).

Racial Mixing and Cultural Exchange Along the Frontier
When white fugitives fleeing tax collectors, military enlistment, and the law entered the backlands of Atlantic Forest, they formed racially-mixed settlements that became sites of "cultural and genetic exchange" (Dean 101-107)."

Some tribes like the Caiapo managed to fend off the Europeans for years, while adopting Old World agricultural practices (Dean 103). However, the expansion of the mining frontier pushed many indigenous tribes off their land (Dean 104). An increasing number of them went to the aldeias to evade the threat of enslavement by colonists or conflicts with other indigenous groups (Dean 104). In 1755, in an attempt to transform this wandering population into a more productive, assimilated peasantry modeled off of Europe's own peasantry, the marquis of Pombal abolished the enslavement of natives and legal discrimination against the Europeans who married them, even banning the use of the term caboclo, a pejorative used to refer to a mestizo or a detribalized indigenous person (Dean 104).

Along the frontier, racial mixing between people of indigenous, European, and African ancestry resulted in various physical spaces for cultural interchange that historian Warren Dean has called the "caboclo frontier" (Dean 101-107) Portuguese colonial authorities were characterized by their refusal to cooperate or negotiate with quilombos, seeing them as a threat to the social order (Schwartz 4(, but caboclo settlements actually integrated the indigenous into what Darren describes as "neo-European customs [or an Africanized version of them]" (Dean 105) Runaway slaves, forming quilombos or finding refuge in the the forest, came into contact with indigenous people and introduced them to the Portuguese language (Dean 105). Frontier army agent, Guido Thomaz Marlière, noted: "A fugitive black can accomplish more among the Indians than all the missionaries together..."(Dean 105) Indeed, one quilombo in specific, Piolho, was "officially tolerated" for its ability to pacify indigenous tribes (Dean 105). At the same time, colonial officials, disapproved of unions between runaway black slaves and indigenous people(Dean 105). In 1771, when an indigenous captain-major of an aldeia married an African woman, he was dismissed from his position (Dean 105).

The inhabitants of the caboclo frontier exchanged belief systems, music, recipes for remedies, and fishing and hunting techniques with each other (Dean 106 -107). The Tupi language enriched Portuguese with new words for native flora and fauna, as well as for places (Dean 106). Africanisms, such as the Kimbundu word, fubà (maize meal) also became part of Brazilian Portuguese (Dean 106).

Challenges to the Sustainability and the Growth of Agriculture
The mining of gold and diamonds shaped the internal economy of agriculture (Dean 99, 100). Although slash-and-burn agriculture was able to feed the mining region throughout the 1700s, deforestation and the degradation of the land in the long term, made farming increasingly difficult and forced farmers to look for grasses further away from these mining centers(Dean 99). As a result, by 1800, foodstuffs were carried on mule trains as far as 100 kilometers just to reach Ouro Preto (Dean 99). Although the colonial authorities encouraged the mining industry, like the Jesuits before them, they also noticed the negative effects of slash-and-burn agriculture (Dean 99).

In 1765, Luis Antonio Souza Botelho became the governor of the captaincy of São Paulo (Dean 99). He attempted to stop slash-and-burn agriculture through the imposition of a village social order (Dean 99). Botelho encouraged mestizos, mulattos, assimilated indigenous people, and Paulista farmers to take up the plow and use the manure of draft animals as fertilizer, but his reforms did not work for several reasons. Botelho's propositions did not appeal to famers because farmers would have to work more hours without any guarantee or probability of actually increasing their harvest (Dean 100). The colonial land policy favored the elite, who could afford purchasing expensive land titles (Dean 100). Because these small-scale farmers were unable to attain land titles to make their fields their property, they were uninvested in sustainable farming practices (Dean 100). Botelho also saw slavery as a hindrance to the agricultural development of the region (Dean 101). Although his reforms were unsuccessful and he was not able to implement all of his ideas, Botelho did recognize that mercantilism and militarism impeded the growth of agriculture (Dean 101).

Other impediments to the growth of agriculture, included the criminalization and vilification of the poor. Heavy taxes were expected in cash from poor farmers (Dean 101-102). While reimbursements could be delayed for years, when taxes were not paid, the family's young men were forced into military service (Dean 101-102). One governor in Minas Gerais noted with dismay that white settlers seemed to reject all forms of intensive manual labor in the hopes of increasing their chances at upward social mobility (Dean 107). Botelho, himself, "conscripted almost 5,000 men from an adult population that could not have numbered more than 35,000" (Dean 101) Unemployed men were designated as vadios or vagamundos and enlisted in the military or sent to the frontier along convicts (Dean 101-102). Some of the men managed to escape the authorities and found refuge in the Atlantic forest, where they became subsistence farmers or prospectors; these men would later come to form part of the "caboclo frontier." (Dean 101-103).

The pests and plagues that invaded farmers' crops were a significant barrier to the growth of agriculture (Dean 107). Rodents, insects, and birds ate many crops, but the most pervasive pests were the leaf-cutting ants, or saúva (in Tupi) (Dean 107). These ants are difficult to eliminate as, even today, they are difficult to study because they work at night and live below the ground. Farmers at that time, were unsure on how to deal with saúva, and unfortunately, resorted to countermeasures, like slash-and-burn, that only exacerbated the problem (Dean 107 -110).

Cattle Raising
As with agriculture, the mining economy shaped the cattle raising industry from its outset. Beef was eaten by miners and was "the preferred source of protein in the neo-European diet" of Colonial Brazil (Dean 111). Cattle raising spread from Sao Paulo to the Gaurapuava plains (Dean 111).

Cattle were not particularly cared for. No fodder was provided, and even castrating and branding were often neglected. As a result, the was a severe mortality rate during the dry season, and it took several years for cattle to reach a sellable weight (Dean 111). Salt served as a poor dietary supplement for cattle, and this inadequate use, simply made salt-preserved meats and dairy products "unnecessarily expensive" (Dean 112) Catte suffered from intestinal parasites and ticks (Dean 112). In their attempts to escape pests and threats, they often moved into forest margins, disrupting their ecosystems (Dean 112). As mentioned, cattle raising changed the native landscape from palatable grasses to "scrubby, noxious" plants, but trying to eliminate them by burning only worked temporarily (Dean 112 -114). In the long term, burning these grasses caused erosion, reduced soil permeability, and produced degraded, innutritious pasture prone to becoming hosting ticks and poisonous plant species (Dean 112 -113). Cattle took longer to reach their weight, and by choosing the largest animals, herders only worsened the breed through "negative selective pressure" (Dean 113) Although they were edible and fire-resistant, the African grasses that eventually replaced native ones were not as nutritious because they were not planted in variety to provide a more balanced diet (Dean 114).

Because of degraded grasslands, high mortality rate, slow growth, and low population, like agriculture, the cattle raising industry in Colonial Brazil was not very productive. In fact, hunter-gathers in this area could have attained more meat than the cattle breeders, who annually produced a maximum of "five kilometers of meat per hectare" (Dean 114) Thus, wasteful agricultural practices and irresponsible cattle raising methods not only led to the degradation of the native landscape; they also did little for the long-term economic development of the region (Dean 115 -116). Historian Warren Dean acknowledges the effects that colonialism and capitalism had on the seemingly "useless" and "wasteful" exploitation of the Atlantic Forest, yet he also warns the reader against ascribing the whole blame on colonialism and capitalism (Dean 116). According to Dean, there is evidence to suggest colonists accepted "regal authority" only when it supported their interests and that "colonies were not necessarily condemned to [lower] levels of capital formation"(Dean 116) "Resistance to the demands of imperialism," says Dean, can have as "forceful and determinant [of an effect on] the formation of states and nations as imperialism itself" (Dean 116)