SESMARIAS E PROPRIEDADE TITULADA DA TERRA: O INDIVIDUALISMO AGRÁRIO NA AMÉRICA PORTUGUESA

Abstract

The article analyzes the conflicts of territorial jurisdiction over the property on the frontiers of the Portuguese empire. It proposes an interpretation of the “sesmarias” as a specific land law on the colonial space as it is based on legal connection to the land and as a guarantee of private ownership of land. Through the visualization of power relations in the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro between the late eighteenth century and the second decade of the nineteenth century, retrieves the historical movement articulated by different social actors and their strategies that enabled the establishment of agrarian individualism.