“Misery and poverty” in indigenous villages under the Pombaline Directory

Economic conditions, subsistence production and indigenous resistances

Abstract

The difficulties of production and access to basic foods in the colonial period are circumstances that are always reported in the current documentation. In the indigenous villages, ordered by the Marquis of Pombal, through the Directory of Indians, this reality was even more devastating at the end of the 18th century. The economic situation of the villagers was affected by the periodicity of the droughts; the demands of Portuguese Braziliansettlers and authorities due to the regional and international market; the structure of the division of land into small lots that accelerated the process of land impoverishment; and by imposing on the Indians the provision of services to the colonists. The consequent low productivity caused by this set of circumstances can be verified through the assessment of titles paid by villainous Indians and registered in the nominal lists prepared by the directors of indians, according to the order of the Directory. The values calculated show a poverty below levels of survival needs, indicating that the economic life of the villagers in Rio Grande was, to a large extent, subsistence oriented, inserted in the limits of poverty, vulnerable to climate instabilities and under the colonial demands for land and workers. On the other hand, we cannot fail to consider the insistent indigenous resistance to accept the economic rules that the Directory wanted to impose. Even though it is not explicit in the consulted documentation, this resistance can be perceived when considering that subsistence was the economic objective of the indigenous agricultural tradition, thus, continue planting only what was eaten can be considered as a way to oppose colonial domination and exploitation.