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The Brazilian Gold Rush

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Manoel Cardozo
Manoel Cardozo*
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of America
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Extract

“A’ meu Deos, como ouro mos, quereis castigar! Com ouro nos quereis castigar!” Frei Apolináriode Conceição, O.F.M., Primazia seráfica na regism da América (Lisboa, 1733), pp. 45-46.

The news of the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais at the threshold of the eighteenth century spread like wildfire. Inebriated with the wealth which many thought would be perpetual, Brazil lived hours of rare exultation. “…those Mines,” wrote a former governor-general of Baía at the beginning of the eighteenth century, “are said to be so permanent that it will not be possible to exhaust them as long as the World lasts….” As early as 1697 the governor of Rio could write that the Caeté mines “extend in such a fashion along the foot of a mountain that miners are led to believe that [the extraction of] gold in that locality will be of great duration….” In the absence of more precise information, fantastic rumors became current. The new mining fields were of such dimensions, another contemporary affirmed, that they spread over the vast Brazilian hinterland. In 1709 the Overseas Council (Conselho Ultramarino) was willing to believe that the mines were the richest that had ever been discovered; the Council was certain that they would provoke the jealousy of foreign nations. After so many years of futile search Portugal had at length found another Potosí in the “most expansive heart of that world Emporium,” in that “resplendent diamond” of the finest quality which was Brazil.

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Research Article
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The Americas , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , October 1946, pp. 137 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1946

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References

1 The gold of colonial Minas Gerais was all of the placer variety.

2 “… se afirmam serem tam perduraveis aquellas Minnas que em quanto o Mundo durar senaõ poderam extinguir.…” Letter of Dom Rodrigo da Costa to the king, Lisbon, June 19, 1704 (?) in the Arquivo Histórico Colonial of Lisbon (hereafter cited as A.H.C.), doc. of Rio, N° 2917.

3 “… e dizem que estas minas se dilataõ de tal sorte pello peé de hua serra que faz emtender aos mineyros sera o ouro naquella parte de muita durasaõ.…” Artur de Sá e Meneses to the king, Rio, June 12, 1697, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio. N° 2080.

4 “…se supoem compríhenderem as ditas minas quazi toda a America p.lo serataõ.…” Report of Félix Madureira e Gusmão, July 28, 1705 (?) in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2910.

5 The principal administrative agency for the colonies, with headquarters in Lisbon. It was created by King John IV and extinguished only in 1843. The papers of the Council form the main body of materials of the Arquivo Histórico Colonial.

6 Report (consulta) of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232, L° 1° das Consultas do Rio, fo. 257 verso.

7 da Costa, Dom Rodrigo, doc. cit. For the early search for mines see Manoel Cardozo, “Dom Rodrigo de Castel-Blanco and the Brazilian El Dorado, 1673–1682,” in The Americas, I, N° 2 (October 1944), 131–159.Google Scholar

8 d’Escragnolle Taunay, Afonso, História da Vila de São Paulo no século XVIII, 1701–1711 (São Paulo, 1931), p. 6.Google Scholar

9 Antonil, André João, pseud, of João Antônio Andreoni, S.J., Culture e opulencia do Brazil por suas drogas e minas (3rd ed., São Paulo, 1923), ch. IV.Google Scholar

10 da Rocha Pita, Sebastião, Historia da America Portugueza, desde o anno de mil e quinhentos do seu descobrimento até o de mil e setecentos e vinte e quatro (2nd ed., Lisboa, 1880), book VIII, § 64.Google Scholar

11 An arroba, a Portuguese measurement, was the equivalent of about thirty-two pounds. See Mappas das medidas do novo systema legal comparadas com as antigas nos diversos concelbos do reino ilbas (Lisboa, 1868), p. 297.

12 Antonil, , op. cit., ch. VIII.Google Scholar

13 Taunay, , op. cit., pp. 4–5. The captaincy was purchased by the Crown on September 19, 1711.Google Scholar

14 “E porque naõ fique eate estado do Brasil sem algum exemplo dos muytos, em que a soberba, e as riquezas tem feito estragos; reparay, e notay com attençaõ. Ide a Pernambuco, passay ao Rio de Janeiro, sobî a S. Paulo, entray nesta Cidade, correy essas Villas, & seus Reconcavos: vereis a quantos tem a soberba, e os interesses feito notaveis destroços.” Pereira, Nuno Marques, Compendio narrativo do peregrino da America (Lisboa, 1731), p. 18.Google Scholar

15 Domingos da Silva Bueno to the king, Minas Gerais, August 20, 1704, in A.H.C., unclassified papers of Minas Gerais.

16 Juan Alejandro Rodríguez to Capt. Bartolomé de Aldunate, Rio, December 30, 1703, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2890.

17 Royal letter to Dom Álvaro da Silveira de Albuquerque, governor of Rio, September 23, 1703, cited in Taunay, op. cit., p. 21.

18 Report of the Overseas Council, July 12, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 253, L° 2° das Consultas da Baía, fo. 27 verso.

19 Letter to the king, Rio, August 30, 1702, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2625.

20 See decree of November 25, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 1, L° 2° de Decretos, 1702–1735.

21 Letter of the governor-general of Brazil to the king, August 6, 1709, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, November 8, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 253, fo. 31 et seq.

22 Decree of November 25, 1709, doc. cit.

23 Letter of September 23, 1702, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, March 28, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, L° 1° das Consultas da Baía, fo. 251 verso.

24 Report of the Overseas Council, June 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 252.

25 Letter of Filipe de Barros Pereira, amanuensis of Garcia Rodrigues Pais, to the king, Rio, September 17, 1705, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 3107. As early as 1697, when the Rush began, more than 4,000 people were panning for gold in the Caeté area alone. Letter of Artur de Sá e Meneses, governor of Rio, to the king, Rio, June 12, 1697, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2080. Félix Madureira e Gusmão (doc. cit.) estimated the number of people in Minas Gerais in 1705 at something over six or seven thousand. This is very likely an understatement. The “Relação da victoria que os portuguezes alcançaram no Rio de Janeiro contra os françezes, em 19 de Setembro de 1710” (Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, XXIII, 412) lists the population of Minas Gerais at 60,000. Antonil (op. cit.) estimated it at thirty thousand.

26 In this connection see Manoel Cardozo, “The Guerra dos Emboabas, civil war in Minas Gerais, 1708–1709,” The Hispanic American Historical Review, XXII, No. 3 (August 1942), 470–492.

27 Antonil, , op. cit., ch. XVII.Google Scholar

28 “Diario da jornada, que fes o exm°, senhor Dom Pedro desde o Rio de Janeiro athé a cid°. de São Paulo, e desta athe as Minas anno de 1717,” Revista do Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (Rio de Janeiro), N° 3, 314–315.

29 Report of the Overseas Council, October 14, 1717, in A.H.C., Codez 233, L° 2° das Consultas do Rio, fo. 118.

30 Report of the Overseas Council, April 15, 1722, in AH.C., Codex 233, fo. 242 verso.

31 Report of the Overseas Council, August 6, 1723, in A.H.C., Codex 233, fo. 284.

32 A.H.C., unclassified papers of Minas Gerais, October 20, 1725.

33 A.H.C., doc. of Rio, June 12, 1726.

34 A.H.C., unclassified papers of Minas Gerais, October 26, 1738.

35 The mining fields were declared to be under the juridical juriadiction of the São Paulo ouvidor as early as 1700. See the document of September 2, 1700, setting forth the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of the São Paulo and Rio ouvidores, in A.H.C., Codex 169, fo. 104.

36 Before 1709, when a governor was appointed for São Paulo and Minas Gerais, the mining fields were technically under the administration of Rio.

37 da Silva Bueno, Domingos, doc. cit.Google Scholar

38 Report of the Overseas Council, January 27, 1705, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 220 verso.

39 da Silva Bueno, Domingos, doc. cit Google Scholar.

40 Report of Manuel de Sousa, judge of the Rio Mint, December 7, 1705, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 3123. See Manoel Cardozo, “The collection of the fifth in Brazil, 1695–1709,” The Hispanic American Historical Review, XX, No. 3 (August 1940), 359–369.

41 Félix Madureira e Gusmão, doc. cit.

42 “… não se pôde crer o que padecêrão ao principio os mineiros por falta de mantimentos, achando-se não poucos mortos com huma espiga de milho na mão, sem terem outro sustento.” Antonil, op. cit., ch. VII.

43 Pandiá Calógeras, João, As Minas do Brasil e a sua Legislação (Rio de Janeiro, 1904), I, 71 Google Scholar.

44 Antonil, , op. cit., chs. X-XI.Google Scholar I am speaking now of the Old Road (Caminbo Velbo) from Rio, since the New Road (Caminbo Novo) was not opened to traffic until 1705.

45 Antonil, , op. cit., ch. VII.Google Scholar

46 Ibid.

47 da Silva Bueno, Domingos, doc. cit.Google Scholar

48 Letter of Aires de Saldanha de Albuquerque, governor of Rio, to the king, Rio, November 1722, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 4156.

49 “Termo de veraçaõ que fizeraõ os officiais da camera em que se acordaraõ varias couzas sobre posturas e taixas,” Anais da Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, XLIX, 260 et seq.

50 Letter to Dom Lourenço de Almeida, governor of Minas Gerais, February 2, 1726, in A.H.C., Codex 241, fo. 3.

51 “As verdadeiras riquezas rezidem no comercio, e se bem haja alguna Mineiros que se tenhaõ enriquecido por tirar ouro he infenito o numero dos que se tem aruinado por este principio.…” Report of Dom Pedro de Almeida, Count of Assumar, on the proposed capitation tax in Minas Gerais, in the Santa Luzia Archive, Lisbon, Box 408.

52 Letter of Dom Álvaro da Silveira de Albuquerque, governor of Rio, to the king, Rio, August 30, 1702, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2625.

53 Report of the Overseas Council, March 6, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 192 verso.

54 Report of the Overseas Council, February 17, 1705, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 223.

55 Taunay, , op. cit., p. 38.Google Scholar

56 Ibid., p. 40. In 1703 a bushel of manioc flour in São Paulo was worth 640 réis; a pound of sugar, 120; an arroba of fresh beef; 200; a box of quince marmalade, 240; a chicken, 160; a domestic cheese, 120; a Flemish cheese, 640; an ox, two milréis. Ibid., p. 15.

57 Report of an anonymous justice of the Baía Supreme Court (Relação) in A.H.C., unclassified and miscellaneous papers. This report is not dated, but it was undoubtedly written at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

58 Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 257 verso.

59 Ibid.

60 de Azevedo, J. Lúcio, Épocas de Portugal Económico (Lisboa, 1929), pp. 405–406.Google Scholar

61 Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, doc cit. See also Azevedo, op. cit., pp. 406–407.

62 Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, doc. cit.

63 See the provisão of February 8, 1711, in the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Legislação 12, N° 18; and the Gazeta de Lisboa, October 19, 1715.

64 Provisão of February 8, 1711, doc. cit.

65 This was a result of the development of the sugar industry in the Antilles and of the growing competition of American tobacco. Sugar and tobacco were at this time the two great staple crops of Brazil.

66 On the sugar crisis see “Sobre a baixa dos assucares do Brasil e se deverem prohibir naquelle estado e mais comq.tas os generos ususes estrangeiros e vay o papel que se acuza,” report of the Overseas Council, September 25, 1675, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 31. See also Roberto C. Simonsen, Historia economics do Brasil, 1500–1820, I (São Paulo, 1937), 175–176. Increased taxation and transportation costs were other factors in the decline of the sugar industry. In 1672 each box of sugar paid 380 réis for the upkeep of the infantry in Baía and a 600 réis freight charge to Lisbon. In Lisbon each arroba paid a tax of 540 réis. Report of the Overseas Council, July 21, 1673, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 5.

67 “… a todos geralmente notorio q tem os escr.os ue vem de Angolla, e costa da minna se naõ podem fabricar no Est.° do Brazil nenhuã sorte de lavouras, por (serem os d.os escravos os verdadeiros, e unicos agricultores delias.…” Letter of Dom Rodrigo da Costa, doc. cit.

68 Letter of the Baía City Council, August 11, 1702, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, March 28, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 251 verso.

69 Letter of Dom Rodrigo da Costs, doc. cit.

70 Antonil, , op. cit., ch. VIIGoogle Scholar.

71 Letter of Dom Rodrigo da Costa, doc. cit.

72 “… há pessoa prudente que não confesse haver Deos permittido que se descubra nas minas tanto ouro, para castigar com elle ao Brazil, assim como está castigando no mesmo tempo tão abundante de guerras aos europeus com o ferro.” Antonil, op. cit., ch. XVII. For the problems posed by the discovery of gold see also “Parecer de Wencesláo Pereira da Silva, em que se propõem os meios mais convenientes para suspender a ruina dos tres principaes generos do commercio do Brazil, assucar, tabaco e solla. Bahia, 12 de fevereiro de 1738,” Anais da Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, XXXI, 27–31; and Manoel Cardozo, “Alguns Aspectos da Vida Económica e Política do Brasil na Primeira Década do Século XVIII,” Ocidente (Lisboa), I, N° 2 (June 1938), 258–272.

73 “… bem se mostra com evidencia que as milhores Minas do Brasil saõ os assucares e tabacos, porque estes saõ estaveis e perpetuos …” Report of the Overseas Council, October 26, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 235 verso.

74 Within a few years after the discovery of gold plantation income dropped 50 per cent. Report of the anonymous justice of the Baía Supreme Court, doc. cit.

75 On tithes see de Oliveira, Father Oscar, Os dízimos eclesiásticos do Brasil nos períodos da Colônia e do Império (Juiz de Fóra, Minas Gerais, 1940).Google Scholar

76 Report of the Overseas Council, March 30, 1708, in A.H.C., Codez 232, fo. 240.

77 “E porque o excessivo luxo do Brazil, que crece cada ves mais com abundancia do ouro, he huã das principaes cauzas de se nos extrair deste Reyno p.a os estranhos a prata, e ouro, pois se gastaõ no Brazil m.tos generos preciozos, que nos vem das maos dos Estrangeiros, que hé precizo satisfazer em moeda, e em barras de ouro, porque naõ bastaõ os frutos que temos p.a os pagar, e m.tos estrangeiros os naõ querem, por terem mayor lucro, e mais seguro na moeda, hé precizo moderar com prematica os excessos dos m.ores do Brazil.…” Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 257 verso.

78 Report of the Overseas Council, November 3, 1700, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 156 verso.

79 Report of the Overseas Council, August 9, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 253, fo. 14.

80 See Dom Rodrigo da Costa, doc. cit. The measure was also designed to canalize the flow of gold to the South, where smelting houses (casas de fundição) existed, and thus insure a better collection of the quint.

81 A.H.C., Codex 169, L° 1° de Regimentos, fo. 109 et seq.

82 Report of the Overseas Council, September 10, 1703, in A.H.c., Codex 232 fo. 199. On August 2, 1703, the governor of Rio again wrote to Lisbon in the same vein. Report of the Overseas Council, January 7, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 201 verso.

83 Report of the Overseas Council, August 27, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 234.

84 Report of the Overseas Council, September 10, 1703, doc. cit. The law was to be observed to the letter “porq̃ se esta se alterasse seria dar ocaziaõ a que todo o esudo do Brasil se destruisse, faltando escravos p.a a lavoura de seus fruitos, e do trabalho dos engenhos na certeza do grande preÇo que estes haviaõ de ter se os vendessem p.a as Capitanias do Sul.”

85 Letters to the king, June 20 and 26, 1703), cited in the report of the Overseas Council, September 26, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 257.

86 Report of the Overseas Council, September 26, 1703, cit.

87 “… foi V.Mg.de servido vedar a comonicaçaõ da Bahia, o q̃ nunca se pode observar, em rezaõ de q̃ as minas se naõ podem continuar sem o sustento dos gados daquelas p.tes metendo juntam.te q.m os tras outros generos, q̃ deixaõ ocultos nos matos ver.os donde se tiraõ q.do lhes parece, e rezistando sôm.te os gados, descaminhaõ o oiro dos q.tos q̃ he de ponderação.…” Letter of Garcia Rodriques Pais to the king, Rio, August 30, 1705, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 3095.

88 “… suposta a premiçãõ de VMg. de de que possa hir da Bahya p.a as Minas asim gado como outro muito mantim.to porque de outra manr.a se naõ poderaõ conservar os que asistem nellas que se deve impor o tributo de hũ crusado asim em cada cabeça de gado como em cada carga que passarem p.a aquellas terras.…” Report of the Overseas Council, October 26, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 235 verso. The sale of slaves, however, was still prohibited. By resolution of March 30, 1707, as appended to the above report, the king determined that each “large cargo” sent to Minas Gerais should pay a tax of one cruzado; each “small cargo,” two testoons.

89 Infractions of the law might be denounced publicly or privately, by persons of no matter what category or position in life. Under the law the customary judicial immunity enjoyed by the higher colonial officials was removed.

90 A.H.C., Codex 1.

91 Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 257 verso.

92 Ibid.

93 Rio de Janeiro was to be attacked by the French in 1710 and again in 1711.

94 Report of the Overseas Council, October 26, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 235 verso.

95 See Barão de Pôrto Seguro (Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen), Historia das Lutas com os Hollandezes no Brasil desde 1624 a 1654 (Lisboa, 1872) for an account of the Dutch invasions.

96 On January 8, 1693, the Overseas Council wrote that a well-populated Brazil offered “a milhor e mais barata defença como vimos nas capitanias do Norte que ocupadas pellos olandeses naõ poderiaõ darlhe lucro nem comcervacaõ pella offença dos corsarios.…” A.H.C., Codex 232.

97 “… at guarnicoens de soldados honde nâo há povoaçaõ de cazaes, e moradores que cultivem a terra, e comerceem saô m.to deficeis de conservar como se vio na Nova Colonia do Sacramento, e muito custoza a sua subsistençia.…” Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232 fo. 257 verso.

98 Report of the Overseas Council, June 16, 1706, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 228. In 1704 (?), the Rio City Council called the attention of the Home Government to the dangers accruing from the unlimited emigration to the mines. Report of the Overseas Council, January 27, 1705, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 220 verso.

99 Letter of Artur de Sá e Meneses to the Overseas Council, Lisbon, March 2? 1703, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2626.

100 Reports of the Overseas Council, January 7 and September 4, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fos. 201 and 209, respectively. Residents of Baía and Pernambuco were also prohibited from visiting Minas Gerais without the written permission of their respective governors. See the royal resolution of April 25, 1703, appended to the report of the Overseas Council, March 28, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 251 verso.

101 See letter of Don Álvaro da Silveira de Albuquerque to the king, August 30, 1702, doc. cit.; report of the Overseas Council, March 6, 1703, in A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 2624; and report of the same Council, January 24, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 205.

102 This referred principally to the voyage from Rio de Parati, the terminus of the Old Road to Minas Gerais.

103 Report of the Overseas Council, January 24, 1704, doc. cit. The proposed penalties also included a five-year period of exile to Angola.

104 Report of the Overseas Council, January 27, 1705, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 220 verso.

105 “… no q̃ respeita as licenças p.a as minas q̃ se deve responder ao Governador q̃ neste particular se regule pellas ordens q̃ se lhe tem dado, fazendoas observar inviolavelmente, premitindoas aquellas pessoas, de que se naõ possa sequir dano â Republica, porque neste cazo deve respeitar mais a defença, e concervaçaõ daquella cidade; q̃ estâ em prim.° lugar, do que as conveniençias q̃ se possaõ sequir do augmentos [sic] dos quintos.” Report of the Overseas Council, January 27, 1705, doc. cit. This stand was approved by the Queen Regent of Portugal on January 29 of the same year. Ibid.

106 Report of the Overseas Council, September 4, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 209.

107 Ibid.

108 Ibid.

109 Report of the Overseas Council, March 30, 1708, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 240.

110 Letter of the abbot to the king, February 16, 1704, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, August 6, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 207.

111 Report of the Overseas Council, November 19, 1708, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 242.

112 See the royal resolution (despacho régio) appended to the report of the Overseas Council, November 19, 1708, doc. cit.

113 Report of the Manuel Caetano Lopes de Lavre, September 16, 1733, in the Santa Luzia Archive, Lisbon, Box 408. For other information on the clergy in Minas Gerais see Teixeira Coelho, José João, “Instrucção para o Governo da Capitania de Minas Gerais (1780),” Revista do Intituto Histórico a Geográfico Brasileiro, XV, 309–310.Google Scholar

114 Royal refolution of April 25, 1703, appended to the report of the Overseas Council, March 28, 1703, in A.H.C., Codex 252, fo. 251 verso. In his report of December 7, 1705, Manuel de Sousa, judge of the Rio Mint, spoke of the “deviraidade das nasois estrangeiras que se achaõ nas minas, e nas mais partes desta capitania e seo reconcavo.… A.H.C., doc. of Rio, N° 3121.

115 Report of the Overseas Council, April 8, 1710, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 278.

116 Ibid.

117 Ibid.

118 “… que o bom sabor do ouro naõ se perderia facilmente….” Ibid.

119 Report of the Overseas Council, December 23, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 253, fo. 33 et seq. The means of enforcing the decree were detailed eighteen days later.

120 Decree of November 25, 1709, doc. cit.

121 Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Legislação 12, N° 41.

122 Ibid.

123 Letter of the governor-general of Brazil to the King, June 20, 1712, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, November 24, 1712, in A.H.C., Codex 253, fo. 64 verso.

124 Gazeta de Lisboa, October 19, 1715.

125 Royal letter to the Marquis of Angeja, April 9, 1717, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, January 24, 1718, in A.H.C., Codex 253, fo. 190 et seq.

126 Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Legislação 12, N° 41. The decree is summarized in Gazeta de Lisboa, April 11, 1720.

127 Ibid.

128 “Havendo visto o q̃ escrevestes sobre o descubrimento das Minas do districto dessa cidade me pareceu dizervos que segundo a conjunctura do tempo prezente, em q̃ as nacoes estrangeiras se achaõ com tanta inveja, e ambiçaõ de riquezas, q̃ se vaõ descubrindo nas nossas comquistas, naõ convem, q̃ por hora se trate dessas Minas, q̃ ficaõ na jurisdiçaõ dessa cid.e.…” Letter of the king to Dom Rodrigo da Costa, governor-general of Brazil, July 9, 1703, in A.H.C., unclassified and miscellaneous papers.

129 Report of the Overseas Council, July 17, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 257 verso.

130 José Vaz Pinto, superintendent of Minas Gerais, suggested that larger mineral grants should be given to the discoverers of gold deposits. In withholding its approval the Overseas Council pointed out that such a change would provoke an even greater depopulation of the coastal areas of Brazil. Report of the Council, September 20, 1704, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 215 verso.

131 “… e que taõbem se conçedera q̃ de haver m.tos caminhos p.a as minas saõ [i.e., só] sera de gr. damno p.a a estado do Brazil porq̃ se despovoaraõ absollutamente as povoçoes̃ de gente e se falta a cultura, e fabricas do tabaco, e asucar mas q̃ se seguira o prejuizo, de se extraviar o ouro dezemcaminhandose os quintos dividos a elle.…” Report of the Overseas Council, March 6, 1702, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 180 verso.

132 Resolution of November 7, 1709, in A.H.C., Codex 1.

133 Report of the Overseas Council, February 6, 1710, in A.H.C., Codex 232, fo. 273 verso. Appended to the above report, the royal resolution was signed on September 10, 1710.

134 See the letter of Vasco Fernandes César de Meneses, viceroy of Brazil, to the King, July 29, 1722, cited in the report of the Overseas Council, January 23, 1723, in A.H.C., Codex 253, L° 2° das Consultas da Baía, fo. 270.

135 Report of the Overseas Council, June 22, 1712, in A.H.C., Codex 233, L° 2° das Contultas do Rio, fo. 35 et seq.

136 “… no principio quando comessou o descobrim.to do ouro nas terras de Saõ Paullo se cuidou m.to em que naõ era conveniente a continuacaõ destas minas, porq̃ nos persuadimos que ariscaramos huõ rendimeto certo como eraõ o de que gozavaõ os habitadores de todo o estado do Brazil nos generos produzidos das fabricas dos seus engenhos, e cultura dos tabacos por huõ incerto, que o podia desvanesser o tempo, na pouca segurança de estabalidade destes descobrim.tos, e que neste cazo, que justam.te se deviaõ atalhar e impedir, a que se naõ despovoaçem as povoaçoens do Brazil dos seus moradores com a ambiçaõ de irem buscar as capitanias do sul o seu interesse, e por ventura que daqui nacesse a providençia de se premitir aos Paullistas a extraçaõ de duzentos negros som.te para o trabalho das d.as Minas, pa que na impocebelidade naõ terem q.m os ajudassem a minarar, e a tractar dos campos p.a o seu sustento os fizesse retroceder do emprego a q̃ os tinha aplicado a sua delligençia, e industria. Porem como o tempo mostrou que nada bastou p.a os apartar de desentraharem os Rios dos seus Tezouros, e se naõ pode prohibir a passagem de taõ inumeravel gente, como hoje rezide nellas por ser imposivel fecharenlhe as portas, p.a a sua hyda pois lhe saõ livres as daquelles vastissimos certoens, e a experiençia verificasse as grandes conveniencias que se tem seguido da continuaçaõ das d.as minas ao comerçio deste Reyno, e as Conquistas, cem concequençia a fazenda de VMag. de, vindo hoje as frotas ai mais ricas, e podorozissimas em riquezas, q̃ tem nenhuõ Monarco no Mundo.…” Report of the Overseas Council, March 30, 1708, in A.H.C., Codex 232.