The genesis of the black militias in the portuguese America: Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Abstract

I analyze in this paper the sociogenesis of the black militias into two captaincies of Portuguese America: Pernambuco and Minas Gerais. After proposing comparisons between recruitments of native and blacks soldiers, I highlight the role of slavery and social uprooting of Africans, as well as I try to examine stress fields involving pardos, blacks, colonial and metropolitan authorities culminating with major or minor mishaps, with the institutionalization of black militias. Finally, I note that the captaincies of Minas Gerais and Pernambuco are seen here as specific social configurations and endowed with significant autonomy. At the same time, I see Pernambuco and Minas Gerais as two social configurations interdependent and connected, whose histories and institutions often saw themselves reflected in documents produced by militiamen and bureaucrats linked to their rulings.