Tupinambás Uprising

The Tupinambá Uprising (1617-1621), also called the Tupinambá Revolt, took place on January 13, 1618, and was led by the tuxaua (cacique) Cabelo de Velha, who gathered several native indigenous groups from the busy Mairi region (now the city of Belém of Pará)[1] to fight against the Portuguese, due to the abuses committed by these colonizers when they exploited the indigenous labor force in the Conquest of Pará.

The disputes culminated in the attack in January 1619 by the Tupinambá on the Presépio Fort (a Portuguese fortification), located on the shores of Guajará Bay.

Where the region in the extreme north of the country was invaded by the English and the Dutch, who set up trading posts to exploit the raw material that would be sold in Europe.

Thus, the Portuguese started military campaigns to strengthen their dominance in the Amazon territory and ensure the exploitation of local natural resources (sertão drugs),[3][4] due to the loss of competition in the Asian market for the Dutch.

The alliance with the Tupinambás of Pará, was mediated by the Maranhão ethnic group that already had a relationship with foreigners, seeking benefits in trade and in wars.

The captured indigenous suffered physical, cultural and religious impositions by the Portuguese, via Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries, in addition to serving as labor in colonial production.

The European maritime expansion, started in the 15th century, arose from the need of countries to expand their trade in crisis, mainly due to the commercial monopoly of the Turks in the Eastern region and the dominance of the Arabs in Africa.

With the rising price of Asian and African goods, such as precious stones, perfumes, fabrics, and spices, the Europeans started great voyages by ships to discover new lands to be explored.

However, the colonizing initiative of the Portuguese in Brazil, to exploit the natural wealth and settlement, was extended beyond the limits defined by the treaty during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The missionaries traveled to Brazil with the objective of catechizing the indigenous, while the settlers took advantage of the native to build their domain of goods and power.

[9] So, the action of the missionaries was ambiguous, since they denounced the abuses and came into conflict with the colonists and, at the same time, they were part of the Portuguese people, depending on relations with the powerful to maintain themselves.

However, the law legitimized the capture of indigenous people in two situations: in just wars fought with the permission of the governor or the king, and when they were to prevent anthropophagy (cannibalism).

[8] The allied and submissive indigenous had, as much as possible, their freedom guaranteed by the colonizers, because the Portuguese recognized that they were the main workforce and strength to ensure the defense of the territory and the wide exploitation of natural resources.

[15] During the reigns of the three Filipes in Brazil, there were few colonization groups on the northeastern coast and the goal to expand the colonial territory with expeditions to the interior of the country, exploring the north.

For political and economic purposes, the English, Dutch and Portuguese established alliances with the native peoples, taking the opportunity to exploit the old tribal rivalries.

The collaboration of the natives became an imposition by the Portuguese, who forced the tribes to work and fight for the Lusitanian objectives of expanding the territory and extracting natural wealth for trade.

Therefore, at the end of 1616, in the region called Feliz Lusitânia (Belém), Castelo Branco ordered the construction of a fort, named Presépio.

A group of Franciscans, led by Friar Antonio de Merciana, arrived at the site and founded a house, beginning the relationship with the Tupinambás indigenous.

[16] In the first revolts, the natives faced settler groups commanded by Sergeant Major Diogo Botelho and Captain Gaspar de Freitas.

[20] The struggle of the Tupinambás to expel the Portuguese from their land was bloodier and longer than the conflicts with the European peoples who occupied the Amazon territory before.

In early 1618, to protect the settlement, the Portuguese government decided to recruit Bento Maciel Parente, who was appointed assistant to Antonio de Albuquerque in Pernambuco.

[14] Baltazar Rodrigues was sent to replace the deposed captain Castelo Branco and had the support of the Captain-Mor Jerônimo Fragoso to contain the conflict situation in the region.

The indigenous uprisings ended up serving the scheme of capturing natives for slave labor, reinforcing the violence committed against them.

We begin to gather the people of Maery and with this political act we call on Tocantins, Caeté, Colares, Maracanã, Cururupu and Cumã to rise up in the ranks of the anti-colonial struggle in the Amazon.