Russell Wood. Introduction..New Directions in Bandeirismo Studies In Colonial Brazil.pdf

7/29/2019 Russell Wood. Introduction..New Directions in Bandeirismo Studies In Colonial Brazil.pdf

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The Americas61:3 January2005, 353-371Copyrightby theAcademyof AmericanFranciscanHistory

NEW DIRECTIONS N BANDEIRISMO TUDIESIN COLONIALBRAZILBy A. J. R. Russell-Wood

hesuffix ism (-ismonPortuguese)asseveral urposes. heOxfordEnglish Dictionary informs us that this suffix may form "a simplenounof action,"express"theaction or conductof a class of persons,"or form"thenameof a systemof theoryorpractice," orexamplepoliticalorsocial. Eachusage wouldbe applicable o bandeirismo whose etymologyisbandeira+ismo).This word appearsto have come into the Portuguese an-guage as spokenin Brazil in the late twentiethcentury. t does not appear nthe Diciondrio da linguaportuguesacontemporaneapublishedin 2001 bythePortugueseAcademiade Ciencias.The BrazilianDiciondrioHouaissalsopublished n 2001offers the following definitionsforbandeirismo:"conjuntode acontecimentos relacionados com as bandeiras (expediq6es)" and"maneirade agirdasbandeirase dos bandeirantes."'The fouressays in this dedicated ssue of TheAmericas cast considerablelight, andwill probablygeneratesome heat, in sharpening he definitionofthe termbandeirawhose looseness is such as to make it almostgeneric andin expanding he lexicon of bandeirismo o detail other termsof greaterpre-cision and more appropriate o a specific time or place. They also focusspecifically on personsknownas bandeirantes,and the actionsand circum-

stances of individuals comprising a bandeira. Each essay situates ban-deirismo in a specific region andin the context of changingandprevailingpolitical, social and economic circumstances.A Portuguese perspective iscounter-balanced y discussion andanalysisof the compositionanddemog-raphyof Indianpeoples in each region underdiscussion. The essays showthat bandeirismomanifested itself in different forms in response to localconditionsand that it could changeand evolve into forms which would have

1 TheOxfordEnglishDictionary.2nd ed., vol.VIII(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1989);DiciondriodalinguaortuguesaontemporaneaLisbon:erbo,001); iciondrioouaissa inguaortuguesaRiode Janeiro: Editora Objetiva, 2001).353

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354 NEWDIRECTIONSNBANDEIRISMOTUDIESbeen anathema o the first bandeirantes;hattherewas a surprisingunifor-mity of purposeregardlessof time andplace;thatit was a colony-wide phe-nomenon;and that it persisted in its various manifestationsfrom the six-teenthcenturythrough o independence

These paperswere originallypresentedat a CLAH-sponsored ession ofthe AHA annualmeetingin WashingtonD.C. in Januaryof 2004. They havesubsequentlybeen revisedforpublicationbut,otherthan nformalexchangeof papersbetween authors, hey remaindiscretepapers.My purpose n thisintroduction s to highlightfeaturescommon to anddistinctfromeach othercontained in the essays, place these in the frameworkof issues such as set-tlement and colonization, governance, agency, and continuity and changeandprovidesome comments on sourcesand thecontribution f these essaysto the historiography.The substanceof these commentsis based largely onthe essays withoutacknowledgment o individualauthors.REGIONS

Each of the regions underdiscussion-Bahia, Amazonia,Minas Gerais,and Goias is topographicallyand hydrographicallydistinctive and eachplayeda significantrole in theformationof colonialBrazil(1500-1822).Thesixteenthcenturywitnessed the establishmentof crowngovernment n Sal-vador n thenortheastandthegrowing sugarcaneindustrycreateda demandfor labor in the captainciesof Bahia and Pernambuco.The newly createdcolony awoke the interestof other Europeannations.The northof Braziltook on a multinationaldimension with a French,Spanish,Irish,and Eng-lish presence in the sixteenthcenturyand a Dutch shortlythereafter.Thisgave rise to competitionfor the allegiance, labor,and souls and bodies ofIndians.This areawitnessed a transition rom an economy largelybased onthe harvestingof drogas do sertdo to export agriculture.Therewas alluvialgold in Amazonia,but it was the lure of gold and diamondswhich spurredmovementaway from the littoral to the interiorof Brazil in the eighteenthcentury.Gold rushes in seriatumbroughtthe Portuguese nto conflict withIndiansseekingto protectthe lands on which they weredependent or hunt-ing andplantingcropsandresistingenslavement.This move to the west wasmarkedby the creationof the captainciesof MinasGerais(1721), of Goiais(1748), andof MatoGrosso(1748). By a happycircumstance,each of theseimportantregions has found its authorin these essays: Alida Metcalf onincursionswhich would laterbe knowncollectively as bandeirismon Bahiain the sixteenthcentury;BarbaraSommeron Amazonia between 1615 and1757;Hal Langfuron theEasternSertdo of Minas Geraisbetween 1750 and1808;andMaryKaraschon Portuguese-Indianelationsand theconquestof



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 355

Goiais,1775-1819. Eachessay providesan analysisanddescriptionof a spe-cific area at a specific period.Takentogetherthey providehigh resolutionphotographsof varyingforms of bandeirismoandof Indianresponsesin thenorth,northeast,center and west of Brazil.

INDIANS

The Native Americanpopulationof Brazil in the year 1500 when PedroAlvares Cabraland his fleet made landfall hasbeen estimatedat2,431,000.2By superimposingon a map of Brazil the locations of tribes in 1500 andusing the dataprovidedby JohnHemming,readerswill be able to arriveatan estimate of the greateror lesser intensity of Indianpeoples in 1500 inregions dealt with in these essays, but clearly such figures may only havepartialrelevance to laterperiods. There is a reluctance,because of inade-quatedata,by historiansto make estimatesfor specific regions in specificperiods. Duringthe first three centuries of what the Portuguesecalled theLandof theTrueCross andsubsequentlyBrasil, Indianpopulationsdeclinedsubstantially,a decline attributablen large partto exposure to Old Worlddiseases, suchas smallpoxandmeasles, to whichtheyhadno immunity.Theimpactvariedby the region andperiod.If the Indianpopulationof coastalBahia was in "steepdecline"by 1570, theircontemporariesn the sertaoofBahia were plentiful. Just Warswaged in the second half of the century,notably by Governor-generalMem de Sai, depleted Indian populationsbeyond the coastal areas,but there was also mortalityof Indianson Jesuitmissionvillages in Bahia.In colonialAmazonia,there was a similarstoryofIndianmortality resultingfrom exposure to smallpox and measles, whichravagedmissionvillages, andto JustWarsorreprisals. ndianswere also thevictims of internecinewarfarebetween those Indianpeoples who had alliedthemselveswiththePortugueseand otherEuropeansand thosewho hadnot.In the eighteenth-century,Amazoniamortalityresultingfrom smallpox epi-demics createdan increaseddemandfor Indianslaves which, in turn, ed tomore intensive warfareand death at the handsof tropasde guerra.InBahiaandAmazonia,thedemand or labor and the questfor Indians o be "tamed"andconverted, ed to ever furtherreachingexpeditions,bringingdiseases tohithertountouchedpopulations.While Indianpeoples were knownto evac-uate their settlements and engage in mass migrations, small numbersofEuropean traders and adventurers and settlers-English, Irish, French,Dutch and Spanish, in addition to Portuguese-could inadvertentlycause

2 JohnHemming,Red Gold. The Conquestof the Brazilian Indians,1600-1760 (Cambridge,Mass:HarvardUniversityPress, 1978), pp. 487-501.



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356 NEW DIRECTIONS IN BANDEIRISMOSTUDIES

heavy mortality as vectors of Europeandiseases.3 In contrast, in MinasGerais in the period describedby Langfur,Indianmortalityfrom diseasetook second place to mortalityresultingfrom violent warfareby militaryexpeditionswhose goal was conqueston severalfronts,butmostnotablytheEasternSertio andformal declarationof waragainstthe Botocudoin 1808.Prior o theperiod n Goias describedby MaryKarasch herehadbeen expo-sure to Europeandiseases, andtheirimpacton Indianpopulations n the lastquarterof theeighteenthcenturywas less than n sixteenth-centuryBahia orin Amazoniain the seventeenth andeighteenthcenturies.But Goi-s sharedthe experienceof Minas Gerais,namely a policy of conquest.Despite sig-nificant examples of successful diplomacy, there was sustained warfarebetween Indianpeoples, in additionto attacksby bandeiras.Therewas con-siderablemovementby some Indianpeoples in Goids(presentday StatesofGoi-s andTocantins) o free themselvesfrom bandeira ntrusionsand inter-Indian warfare.The Avi-Canoeiro were consistentlyhostile to IndiansandEuropeansalike.Theirrewardwas to remainunharmedn theirsecludedvil-lages protectedby the mountainous opography.The authorof each paperhas, where appropriate nd where the sources permitted,made an effort toidentify and describe the diversity of Indianpeoples or "nations"as theywere describedin the language of the day, and also to identify individualIndiansby name. What is readily apparent rom their descriptionsis thatdeath or survival of Indians was linked to the degree of intensity of Por-tuguese settlement,the chronologyof settlementwhich variedfrom regionto region, and the frequencyand size of intrusionsby Europeans,or theiragents, into Indian ands.

PORTUGUESE SETTLEMENTThe arrivalof the Portuguese n 1500 did not result in immediatecolo-nization. The sheer territorial xpanse of Brazil precludedany such possi-bility,nordid thePortuguesecrown advocateany suchpolicy. By the end ofthe sixteenthcenturyand into the seventeenthcentury,what settlements hatexisted were mostly on or near the coast. This led the Bahiano VicenteRodriguesPalha(bornc. 1564), who on ordination n the Orderof St. Fran-cis took the name of FreiVicente do Salvador, o characterizehePortugueseas scuttling over the beach as so many crabs ("arranhavam praiacomo

caranguejos") n his Hist6ria do Brasil, whose manuscripthe finished in1627. Even then, they were clustered-as was the case of Bahia-ratherthan uniformly placed along the littoral, and this pattern prevailed until the

I Hemming,RedGold andAmazonFrontier TheDefeat of theBrazilianIndians(Cambridge,Mass:HarvardUniversityPress, 1987).



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 357end of thecolonialperiod.Theearlyseventeenthcenturysaw surges nto thefar north and the far south respectively and into the lower Amazon. Thiscontinued n theeighteenthcentury,with settlersand tradersmoving intotheregionsof the Solim6es and Rio Negro. Onlyin theearlyeighteenthcenturywas there settlementand the establishmentof towns in the region of whatwas to become the captaincyof Minas Gerais.Access by land andby riverfacilitatedsettlement, nitially in encampments arraiais) and hamlets,andlaterthe creationof some few townshipsin Goia'sandMato Grossobefore1750. The eighteenthcenturyalso witnessed greaterpenetration nto Ama-zonia. It should be pointed out that such settlementsand townships wererather ike archipelagoesof settlement n a largelyuntamed and,and what-ever frontier herewas remaineda hollow frontier.

CONTESTEDLANDSWhile Indianpeopleshadcontestedaccess to and usufructof land,a Por-tuguesepresenceintroduceda new rangeof contending nterests.Landwasone such, but it was easily resolved by the Portuguesecrown adoptingthestanceof blithelyignoring ndigenoussovereigntyandunilaterally llocatingland to potentialsettlers. In some instances,Portuguese ook possession ofsuch sesmariaswithoutopen confrontationwiththe land'struestewards, heIndians.In others,therewas armed warfare.In threeregions (Bahia,MinasGeraisandGoiasdescribed n theseessays),therewas major ension over landrights,be it for agriculture, anching,or gold mining.InAmazonia,conflictswerebetweenEuropeansas well as betweenEuropeansandIndians,but lessmarkedlyoverland.An extremeexampleof conflictoverland was in the east-ern partof the captaincyof Minas Gerais,whose forestsprovideda naturalboundary.Langfurcalls our attention o this long ignoredhalf-century-longconflictoverterritory,whichhad beendeclaredoff limitsto settlersor minersby a king intenton curbingcontrabandn gold anddiamondsout of the cen-tralextractionarea.Thatthis territorywas occupied by the warriorBotocudoaddeda furtherdimension o theconflict.Theexceptionwas colonialAmazo-nia, where Sommermakes the excellent point that"landhad little intrinsicvalue."This was one regionwhere the Iberianassociationof landownershipwithpowerandprestigedidnot holdtrue,at least in thisperiod.

CONTESTEDBODIES

Portugueseagricultural, ommercial,and extractiveenterprises,or eventhemaintenance f a house orestate,demandedabor,andPortuguese ettlersdid not see themselves as providingthis labor.Well before 1492 and theColumbus andfall,a slavetradehadexisted betweensub-SaharanAfrica and



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358 NEW DIRECTIONSN BANDEIRISMOTUDIESPortugal,and African slaves were part of the human landscapein cities,towns and in thecountryside.4Metcalfhas describedhow,virtually romtheoutset,the Portuguese n BrazilshippedIndians o Portugal o be slaves,jus-tifying this trade n Indiansas no differentfrom thatalreadysanctionedbythePopeforAfricans.She describeshow suchlegal principles, ncludingJustWar as definedby ThomasAquinas,and the precedentof ransom(resgate)datingback to the Reconquest,were invoked to justify enslavementof Indi-ans. In Brazil,Indianswere enslaved for workin sugarmills andin the canefields, and this continueduntilthe end of the centurydespiteAfricanslavesoutnumbering ndiansby the 1580s. In colonialAmazonia,Africanslaverywas not an issue beforetheeighteenthcentury.Prior o thatdate,Indianswerethe sole source of labor.They possessed skills-weaving, working umber omake canoes and buildings, fishing and hunting,and collecting drogas dosertio-which made themvaluableto an ownerin addition o theirlaborinthe planting,harvesting,andprocessingof cotton,tobacco and sugar.Muchin the sameway thatAfricanslaves wereflaunted n Salvador,Recife or Riode Janeiroor in towns of Minas Geraisas indicatorsof social standing, o tooin colonialAmazonia did control of Indians"conferpower."Sommernotesthatwhereasrivalriesbetween theDutch andPortugueseon theUpperNegroand Rio Brancowere interpretedn Lisbonandby Portugueseofficialdomasdisputesoverland,they should nsteadbe seen as struggles o gaincontrolofIndians.Incontrast o the situation nAmazonia, he bandeirancursions ntothe EasternSertaio f Minas Gerais in the secondhalf of the eighteenthcen-turydescribedby Langfurwere not primarily o secure Indian aborfor agri-cultureor otherfunctions. In part,this was attributableo a 1755 law forbid-ding Indian slave labor, but carrying greater weight in the minds ofofficialdom andsettlerswas therecognition hat theIndians n questionweretotallyunsuited or coercedor slave labor,or indeedany form of productivelabor.Labor could not compete with conquestof land as the focal point ofwhat increasingly became military campaigns against Indians, notablyBotocudoliving in theseforestedareas.Karasch hows thiswas also the casein late colonial Goias, wherepreservationof the respublica, interpreted smotive enough to "pacify"uncooperative ndianpeoples by offensive war-fare andaggressivelyto "disinfest" egionsoccupiedor threatened y them,was thefocalpointof thepolicies and actionsof successivegovernors Read-ily apparentfrom these essays is that, notwithstanding aws, edicts, and

4 A. C. de C. M. Saunders,A Social Historyof BlackSlaves and Freedmen n Portugal, 1441-1555(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1982);A. J. R. Russell-Wood,"Before Columbus:Portugal'sAfricanPrelude to the Middle Passage and Contribution o Discourse on Race and Slavery," n Race,Discourse, and the Origin of theAmericas.A New WorldView,editedby VeraL. HyattandRex Nettle-ford (WashingtonandLondon:SmithsonianInstitutionPress, 1995), pp. 134-68.



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 359changing priorities,Indianslavery was still a way of life in many partsofeighteenth-centuryBrazil.

CONTESTED OULS

The crownwas primarily nterested n boa ordemandin the conquestofland in Brazil andthe creationof revenue-generating ctivities in benefit ofthe mother country, but Portuguese kings and their representativesandagents in the colony also had an interestin Indian laborfor what might betermedpublic worksprojects.For settlers,the prioritywas access to a poolof labor.While Africanlabor came to predominate, hroughout he colonialperiodtherewas enslavedor coerced Indian abor,as well as laborprovidedby free-bornor manumittedpersons of African descent and free Indians.Missionaries constitutedanothergroup with a vested interest in Indians.JesuitsandFranciscansplayeda leadingrole in missionaryactivitiesin ruralareas.While missionariesdid penetrate o the remoterregionsof Brazil, thestrategymost suitedto theirpurposeof havingsustainedandreadyaccess toIndians in a controlled environmentwas the creation of mission villages(aldeias). JesuitsaccompanyingTome de Sousa to Brazil in 1549 andtheirsuccessorsestablishedmission villages in Bahiaand,over the course of thenext two centuries and prior to their expulsion in 1759, the black robesestablishedJesuit Colleges in majorcoastal cities and towns, along with arosaryof mission villages on the coast andin the interiorextendingfrom thefar southto the Maranhdo.So intense was theirpresencein colonial Ama-zonia thattheMaranhdowas elevated to the categoryof Vice-Province.TheIndianpopulationof such aldeias was large.Metcalf cites mortality iguresof Indians nfectedby smallpox/measles n one village in the 1560s of 1,800over two months,while in the 1580s, 600 died within 2 days. During onesuch pandemic,30,000 mission village Indians in Bahia alone died withintwo to threemonths.In Pernambuco, lh6us,and Rio Grandedo Nortepan-demics ravagedIndianpopulationsof aldeiasin the last threedecadesof theseventeenthcentury.To populatesuch villages in Amazonia, Jesuitsreliedheavily on expeditionswhich would persuadeor coerce Indiansto relocate.This strategyexposed the Jesuitsto chargesof collusion with entrepreneursmore interested n Indiansas laborthan n the salvationof souls, andto alle-gationsthatJesuitsturneda blindeye to theuse of physicalforce anddecep-tion by leaders of such expeditionsto fill theircanoes. In fact, some Jesuitsthemselvesdoubted hatIndiansbrought rom the sertio to thecoastal areasof Bahia andPernambucohad been obtainedlegally. Metcalf vividly illus-trates how the Jesuitpolicy of taking theirmissionaryactivities to planta-tions in BahiausingIndian aborundermined heirprotestations gainstsuch



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360 NEW DIRECTIONS IN BANDEIRISMOSTUDIESenslavementandfueled settleroppositionto the missionaries.A royal letterof 1596 (citedby Metcalf)which entrusted he Jesuitswith an active role inpersonallygoing to the sertaoto persuadeIndiansto "descend" o the coast,also charged the Jesuits (acting in conjunction with the governor) withdeciding on locations to establish Indian villages on the coast and withpromising Indians their freedom, thereby exacerbatingsettler ire. Directattacks on Jesuit mission villages and the enslavement of their chargesoccurred n Sio Vicente andelsewhere in the seventeenthcentury.

Amazonia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed highmortality n Jesuitvillages attributable o smallpoxepidemics.In Amazoniathere were by 1730 some 21,031 Indians in 28 Jesuit aldeias, to whichshould be added villages maintainedby Franciscans,MercedariansandCarmelites.An estimate of 50,000 Indiansin mission villages in Amazoniaatmid-century s feasible.5 In 1653 the JesuitAnt6nioVieira hadbeen a pro-ponentof the practiceof descimentos,based on the principleof negotiationandpersuasionwith Indianspriorto theirrelocation.Jesuitswere advocatesof andpartners n this process.That Jesuitsaccompaniedsoldierson expe-ditionsto "descend"(descer) nd relocateIndiansto the coast andaccompa-nied tropasde guerra andtropasde resgate,raisedthe possibility of Jesuitsbeing seen as legitimizing such ventures.This concernwas given credenceby the governor's assertion in 1752 that missionarieswere "frivolous" ndischarging heirresponsibility o verify thatthecircumstancesunderwhichIndianshadbeen captureddid indeedmeet thecriteria or them to be legallyenslaved. The governor doubted the probity of missionaries to organizedescimentos because of their vested interestsin securingenslaved Indiansfor labor.Sommer refers to Jesuits organizingannualresgate expeditionsfinancedby the FazendaReal.The Jesuits,as was thecase of the other reli-gious orders,wererepresentedon the Juntade Miss6es, whose decisions onwhetherIndians could be enslaved or not and in authorizingdescimentosandtropaswere crucial.

InAmazonia,the Jesuitsshowed theirversatilityandadeptness n cover-ing more thanone base. In addition to the roles of lobbyists at court,bothpressuringandcollaboratingwith governors,andhavinga formalrole in thedecision making process on the Juntade Miss6es, Sommer explores howJesuits and other missionaries both co-operatedand competed with cun-hamenasin reachingtheheartsand minds of Indians; he downside was that

5 C. R. Boxer, The GoldenAge of Brazil, 1695-1750. GrowingPains of a Colonial Society (Berke-ley and Los Angeles: Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1962), pp. 290-291.



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 361the black robescould be seen as condoningrites andpracticesof cunhame-nas which were condemnedby the Church.But whatexposed the Jesuitstotheharshestcriticism,andto physicalviolence against heir aldeiaswas theirpolicy of challenging settlers'attempts o enslave Indians andof staunchlydefending the principleof the freedom of Indiansin all but specified cir-cumstances.ColonistsinAmazoniawerefully cognizantof successfulJesuitlobbying to persuadethe king to abolish Indianslavery in 1680, and weresuccessful in gettingthis decision reversed.To some degree,the Jesuits'fullparticipation n the economic life of the colony as owners of plantations-be it sugarcane in Bahia or cacao, coffee andcotton andranching n Ama-zonia-and theirinvolvement in commerce and use of African slave labor,exposed themto the rough-and-tumble f a competitiveeconomy andmadethem activeplayersin colonial politics. Theirroles as lightningrods for set-tler frustrationand anger, and for gubernatorial esentmentat their privi-leged statusandofficially sanctionedroles in governance, eave unansweredthe question as to whetherthey palliated or exacerbatedthe condition ofIndiansin Brazil.

Missionariesfind no place in Langfur'sdescriptionof Minas Geraisafter1750 or in Karasch'saccountof Goias after1775. Official instructionby thegovernorof MinasGerais(1769) to captainSouzato "reduce hem [Indians]to membershipn Christian ociety in a kind orgentlefashion"maybe takenwith a pinchof saltandthecharacterization y the governorof Goias (1790)of the Xavanteas "children"o be broughtto Christianitywas ratherspoiltwhen in the same phrasehe describedthem as "wild beasts"(feras) (cita-tions from Langfurand Karasch,respectively). Field officers ignored suchlofty motives. It wouldbe nice to attributehis absenceof referencesto mis-sionaries to the promulgationof a law in 1755 forbiddingcoerced or unre-munerated ndianlabor,as noted by Langfur.Rather, t was that the situa-tions in Minas Gerais and in Goids were totally different from thoseprevailing earlier in Bahia or Amazonia. In the Eastern Sertio of MinasGerais, entradas, expedigoes and tropas were focused on the conquest ofland. This was a militaryenterprisewhere there was no place for evange-lization, let aloneconversion of Indians.Inthenorthof Goiastherehadbeena Jesuitpresence,but thishadceased in 1759, andthe Directorate 1757-98)failed to curbflight by formermission Indianswho refusedto buckle underto forced labor.Manyreverted o their "barbarousustoms."BANDEIRANTESND BANDEIRAS

These essays show: i) that the terms bandeiraand bandeiranteail to cap-ture the varietyof personsengaged in activities falling underthe rubricof



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362 NEW DIRECTIONSN BANDEIRISMOTUDIESbandeirismo;ii) that practices characteristicof bandeirismowere highlydiverse; iii) that bandeirismopersisted from the sixteenth throughto thenineteenth century; and iv) manifested itself throughoutthe territoryofcolonial Brazil.Let us examine these points.Bandeirantes

Persons known generically and collectively as bandeirantes nteractedwith plantationowners,ranchers,miners,missionariesand crownrepresen-tatives in the colony. Runawayslave communities(quilombos)and free andmission Indianshadgood reasonto fearthem.The imageconjuredupby theterm bandeira or bandeirante-namely of troops of swashbuckling andintrepid males, invariably associated with Sao Paulo, of Portuguese ormixed blood parentage, ndependent n thoughtand action, with a healthydisregard or officialdom and authority otherthanthe king), imbued withsuperhumanamounts of courage and physical stamina and who, undervaliant andheroic leadersand drivenby theircompulsiveobsession to findrich mineral deposits, left kith and kin for years at a time and struggledagainst the forces of natureand hostile Indians-has long since been ren-deredobsoleteeven by theircontemporaries ndby laterhistorians.Buttheywere viewed as emblematicand iconic symbolsof determinationn the faceof adversity,and of that ever-presenthumanquality of heroically (or pig-headedly) strivingto attaintheirgoals; theiractions were swathedin sym-bolic meaning. None other than the Mineiro Claudio Manuel da Costa(1729-89) sang their praise in verse. This adulationfor bandeirantesasregionalor national cons persiststo this day.Traditionally,he profile of abandeirantewas as theoffspring(mameluco)of a Portuguese atherand freeIndianmother or theirdescendants.Metcalfprofiles Alvaro RodriguesandDomingos FernandesNobre of Bahia and Pernambucorespectively whoconformed with this profile. Such men were capableof living off the land,spokeIndian anguages,hadoften lived for extendedperiodsin Indiancom-munities and were accepted by Indians. Others had skills which enabledthemto be interpreters.But thisprofile is incomplete.Not only in Maranhaoand Para, but in Ceari and other captaincies, cabos and participants nentradas,descimentosandtropasde resgateand de guerraweremulattoesorzambos(of blackand Indianparentage).6f one dimensionto bandeirismo sthe enslavement of Indians,then mention must be made of cabos of tropasde resgatein Amazoniawho are characterizedby Sommer as wealthymenprominent in their communities. The Belfort family, for instance, was later

6 Boxer, GoldenAge, pp. 300-01.



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 363to count at least threegraduates rom the Universityof Coimbra.7Militarymen were also prominent,be it as commanderof a fort on the Rio Negro,soldiers, cabos of tropasde guerraandcaptainsof descimentoswho foundin the slave trade a vehicle to advancetheirmilitarycareerswhile reapingfinancial rewardsunknownto colleagues. Later, in Minas Gerais, militiaofficers, soldiers,andcivilians madeup expeditionsandtropasto the East-ernSertdo.As was the case of theirpredecessors n sixteenth-centuryBahia,in seventeenth andeighteenth-centuryAmazonia, such leaderswere highlyexperienced,and made multiple entradas.Authorizationwas given to per-sons as varied as missionaries,captainsof forts,nativeleadersandtraders oundertakedescimentos in Amazonia.Perhapsbecauseentrepreneurship asa core aspect of bandeirismo, t should come as no surprise hattherewasconstantbickeringand rivalriesbetween factions andpersonalitiesengagedin it. When it came to the dislocation,relocationand allocationof Indians,tensions andrivalries nvolving friars andJesuitswere no less intense.Bandeiras

The term entrada was initially associated with expeditions, predomi-nantly emanatingfrom Sao Paulo or the coastal reaches of Bahia and Per-nambucoin the sixteenth,seventeenthand first half of the eighteenthcen-turies in search of gold or precious stones. Some were based on goodinformation;others,such as the questfor SabarubuCqi,ere basedon legendandmyth.Some werehighly successful;othersbarelysurvived.ExpeditionsinAmazonia also were launched n searchof gold andthe lakeof El Dorado.Otherexpeditionswere moreexploratory n nature,were by riverandland,often had an ad hoc quality, and were dependenton the skills of Indiantrackers.They revealed the vast territoriesencompassed by Brazil. Suchexpeditions,if theirparticipantsived to tell the tale or,morerarely, o writean account of their experiences as did planterand propertyowner turnedexplorerGabrielSoares de Sousa in a manuscript itled Tratadodescritivodo Brasil em 1587, accumulated nformationof potential strategicimpor-tance in terms of potential military,commercial, scientific (hydrographic,topographic, flora and fauna), and ethnographic importance. Otherexploratoryentradasoccurred hroughout he colonialperiodandsometimesincorporatedother activities, such as commerceor gatheringof drogasdosertdo n colonial Amazonia,illustrating he fluid and opportunisticqualityof the objectivesof manyentradas.Sommerrecountsthat anexpeditiondis-

7 A. J. R. Russell-Wood,Um Mundo em Movimento. Os Portuguesesna Africa,Asia, e America,1415-1808 (Lisbon:EditoraDifel, 1998), p. 131.



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364 NEW DIRECTIONSN BANDEIRISMOTUDIESpatchedby thegovernor n 1629 in searchof the lake of El Dorado was alsoinstructed o buy Indianslaves, and thatit was a slaving expedition whichrevealed the Cassiquiarecanal. In seventeenth-centuryAmazonia,tropasdeguerra enslaved Indians while also pushing the frontier of Portugueseknowledge of the interior.Some were by land, others by water, and stillothersa combinationof the two. In colonialAmazonia,watertransportpre-dominated,as it did in the case of expeditionsto MatoGrosso.

If theseentradaswere unfocussed or speculative, his was not the case forentradasorganizedspecifically to persuade,negotiate,cajole orforce Indianpeoples to relocate to regions of intense Portugueseagriculturalactivitywherelaborwas in high demand.Albeit free, such Indianswere effectivelyenslaved.Suchentradaswere also sometimes commissionedconcurrently o"descend"Indians to populate mission villages, or else Jesuits and friarsmightorganizeanentrada xclusively for this purpose.This processof relo-cation was known as descer or descimento.These expeditionswere organ-ized as commercialenterprises,with private nvestorsor investors/sponsorswhich might include the Royal treasury,a governor,religious order,or theSociety of Jesus. The leaders or captainsof such expeditions were highlyexperienced.Metcalfhas identified24 such entradas n Bahia between 1572and 1592. There was always the potentialthat such entradascould turnvio-lent andlead to warfarebetween Indiansand the entradapersonnel.This wasa characteristic f entradas aunched from Sdo Paulothroughout he seven-teenthcenturyto captureGuarani.Expeditionsin colonial Amazoniahad adistinctivenomenclature:ropade resgates.That theking instructed he firstgovernor(1624) of Maranhdo o create suchtropasattests to the importancewhich the crown attachedto providing labor for settlers. The name wasacknowledgmentof the practice of ransomingbound Indians (indios dacorda)who hadbeen captured n war andspared romcannibalismand whowouldhave to workto cover the cost of theirransom.InAmazonia,Sommernotes, the term bandeiraapplied to canoes making up such expeditions.Descimentoreferred o Indiansdestined for missions. While dislocationandrelocationwere inherent n all forms of entradas,a peculiarfeatureof desci-mento was that-at least nominally-this was the productof diplomacyintheform of personalovertures o Indianpeoples andusingthe skills of nego-tiation and persuasionand possibly some coercion to induce them to relo-cate to mission villages. Thatthey would be free in such villages andeligi-ble for land and wages was slightly illusory because, as "vassals of thecrown," they were subject to some constraints. Tropas de resgate and desci-mentos ostensibly had to meet legal requirements, to be authorized, and theywere regulated. Documentation was required vouching for the legitimateenslaving of each person, and there were guidelines for the distribution of



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 365profits. In the final analysis,dislocationandrelocationresultedand,wherethere was the potential for profit or self-interest, there was potential forabuse.Sommernoteshow the presenceof thisregulatoryandlegal structurefor such expeditions in colonial Amazonia contrastswith the unregulatedprivateexpeditions in Sdo Paulo. In reality,the efficiency of such regula-tions was underminedby official condoning of infractions,collusion, andlax enforcement.Refusalby Jesuitsto accompanysuch expeditionscreateda short-livedopeningfor private traders-legal andillegal-until reinstate-ment of the tropaswho co-existed with privatetraders.

In colonialAmazonia,entradasorganizedto engage in hostilities againstIndianswhichmet thecriteriaof "JustWar"wereknownas tropasde guerra.Citing numerousexamples from Amazonia, Sommer has shown how theconceptof JustWarandjustificationfor enslavementwere irrevocablycon-nected when the time came to translate his into reality.Deception and vio-lence by leaders (cabos) of expeditions were but one part of a processinvolving a complex web of alliances, betrayals,hostilities, and domesticagendasamongIndianpeoples. Caboshad to contendnot only with hostileIndians,increasingdemandfor slaves, encroachmentson their turfby inde-pendenttraders,but also with the need to take stepson the political fronttoensurethat the Juntade Miss6es would overlookblatant abuse of the prin-ciples of JustWar,murderandrape,violent reprisals,and deem the result-ing enslavement as justified. The venality of crown officials could help inthis process as too could interestshownby governorsand chief magistratesin the outcome. Sommersuggests the activitiesof tropasde guerrawere onthe wane in Pardby mid eighteenthcentury.ColonialAmazoniaprovidesaprime example of how differenttypes of expeditions waxed and waned atdifferenttimes and how whethera tropawas de resgateor de guerracoulddeterminewhether it would favor one region over anotherat a given time.Karaschdescribeshow Indians of southern Goias had been the victims ofpaulistabandeiras.In some cases this had been so violent as to eradicateentireIndiannations.Violence continuedon the captaincy's rontier ntothenineteenthcentury,despitesome markedlysuccessful outcomesattributableto calmness,patience,anddiplomacy.

Changingattitudes,a new governor,new guidelines adoptedby the Juntade Missres, vagariesof supplyanddemand,suddenlygreateravailabilityofindios de cordabecause of intenseinternecinewarfare n a given region, thebalancebetweenauthorizedprivatetradeandtropas,or fiscal considerationsas to benefits accruingto the Royal Exchequer-all these could have animpacton practiceswhich in the end placed Indiansat the disposalof agri-culturalistsor missionaries.Very differentin tone and objectives were the



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366 NEW DIRECTIONSN BANDEIRISMOTUDIESmilitary and paramilitary xpeditions, known variously as entradas,expe-diqoesandtropas aunchedon the EasternSertaoof MinasGeraisfrommideighteenthcenturyinto the early nineteenthcenturydescribedby Langfur.These were headedby militia officers andmanned n largepartby soldiers.Their prioritieswere to conquerland, eradicateIndian resistanceby force,secure the region in terms of cracking down on runaway slaves, illegalprospectorsandother 'marginal' lements,andtake thepreliminary teps tocreate a transportation nd communicationinfrastructure, nd to use theauthorityandpowerof the governorto bringlaw andorder.

BANDEIRISMO:HRONOLOGY ND GEOGRAPHY.

The chronology of bandeirismo s an indicatorof variousphases in theformationof Brazil. So too is it an indicatorof changingwindowsof oppor-tunity,of the transition owardan increasinglyurbanpresence,of a reorien-tationof theeconomy to meetnew demands,of demands or laborwhich ledto slaves of African birth or descent outnumbering ndiansother than inAmazoniapriorto 1750, andof the impacton settlersandon crownauthor-ities in the colony andin Portugalof dawningunderstanding f the vastnessanddiversityof PortugueseAmerica.Among the variants alling withintherubric of bandeirismodescribed above, each had is own life cycle, andwithin this other cycles of great intensity or diminishedactivity.The six-teenthandseventeenthcenturiesare associatedwith bandeirasradiatingoutfromearlycoastalsettlements n BahiaandPernambuco longthecoast andinto the sertio. With a broaderspreadof settlementson the coast, new hin-terlandsopenedup for explorationandas pools of Indian abor.This situa-tion explains how, despite heavy odds which includeddisease andAfricanslave imports, Indian slavery increased in Bahia after 1570 as arguedbyMetcalf. Concurrently,paulistas were radiatingout from the Piratinangaplateau, nitiallyto findIndianswho could be capturedandsoldon the coast,latermorevigorouslyto meet the demandof burgeoningagriculture,andallthe time exploring as far as the western bordersof Brazil and Amazonia.Discoveries of alluvialgold andthe lureof diamondsgave bandeirismonewbreath n the first threedecades of the eighteenthcentury,only for it to bepreemptedby "outsiders" emboabas)from elsewhere in Brazil and Portu-gal. Focus in the historiographyon the period up to 1700 and on ban-deirantesassociated with Sdo Paulo, Bahia and Pernambucohas distractedattentionaway from bandeirismo n Amazonia, where Sommerhas drawnourattention o the intensityof bandeirismo rom the firsthalf of the seven-teenthcenturythroughto the late 1740s. At its heyday,entradaspenetratedmore than half way across the continent into the Rio Negro and the



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 367Solimoes. Likewise, Langfurhas chided historians for accepting at facevalue the crown's designationof the EasternSertaoof Minas Gerais as offlimits, and thus not giving it the attention it deserves as a focus of ban-deirismo into the nineteenthcentury.

The mid-eighteenthcenturywas a criticalperiod for bandeirismo.TheTreatyof Madridcurbed, nteralia, furtherbandeiraactivityandPortuguesesettlerencroachment o the west. Therewas a feeling in official circles inLisbonandamongthemoreenlightenedn thecolonythatopposed hecontin-ued officialsanctioningof Indiancoerced abor.Therewereideological,polit-ical andeconomicfacets to this changeof direction.Powerplays werebeingmade on bothsides of theAtlantic.Pombalineeconomicpolicies,theredirec-tion of theAfricanslave tradeto Graio-ParandMaranhdo,he order(1755)thatIndians n Amazoniabe putunderthe controlof the crown,the law thatIndianlabormust be free of coercion and remunerated,he creationof theDirectoraten 1757,andtheexpulsionof the Jesuits n 1759,changed heenvi-ronmentin which bandeirismohad hithertothrived.The Governorof theMaranhio and Pombal's brother,FranciscoXavier de MendonqaFurtado,playeda decisiverole.Langfur's ssay makes a powerfulcase forthe continu-ationof bandeirismo n theeasternborderof MinasGerais ntothe nineteenthcenturyas"frontierxpansion."Hisdiscussionof 79 expeditionsbetween1755and 1804 confirms the intensityand durationof this collective enterprise,whichhadgubernatorialnd atercrownsupport.That hisrepresented oththecontinuation nda redirection f bandeirismo as alreadybeendiscussed.

THREETHEMES

Authorsof these essays discuss theconceptof JustWarandits conditionsas expoundedby ThomasAquinas,andthe degreeto which it was subjecttoa varietyof creativeinterpretationsn Portugalandin Brazil. Suchinterpre-tationsranthe gamutfromprotecting he Indiansfrom attack,enslavement,or dispossession of their lands to legitimizing the activities and goals ofthose wishing to wage waron Indiansandto kill, abuse,or enslave them.Inthe State of Brazil and the State of the Maranhdogovernors,missionaries,settlers,soldiers, and leadersof tropas,descimentos,and entradasengagedin this exercise. Metcalfhas describedhow ransom(resgate),datingbacktothe Reconquest n the IberianPeninsula andPortuguese ncursions n NorthAfrica in the fifteenthcentury,was recalledas settinga precedentto justifythe enslavementof Indians n Brazil. Authorsalso discuss how Portuguesekings took firm standsvis-a-vis the freedom of Indiansin Brazil, only tosuccumbto pressuresfromreligious and secularquarters.Royal vacillation



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368 NEWDIRECTIONSNBANDEIRISMOTUDIEScontributed o a corpus of legislation which was at best inconsistent andoften ambiguousand even contradictory.This is turfwell cultivatedby his-torians.Some essays in this volumego a stepfurther o examinethecreationof a special lexicon by persons in Brazil to describe the justified optionsopento them,as theyreadthe law andreadbetweenthelines of royalorders.Governorsof MinasGerais were adeptat this. Langfurhas collected exam-ples of euphemisms ntendedto calm metropolitanauthoritiesandeven theking: hostile Indians would be "reducedto peace and civil conformity";arson,theft andmurdercommittedby Indianswerejustificationenough fora "defensivewar";and a policy of "attractinghe Indiansby meansof kind-ness and gentleness and, if thatproved ineffectual,by means of force."Iftherewas a disconnectbetweenlanguageandrealitywithinBrazil,therewasan equal gap between the languageof metropolitanofficials andhow theirinstructionswere implemented n Brazil. Karaschprovidesa classic exam-ple, citing an instruction o the governorof Goids which recommendedapolicy of "kindlygift giving" andallowing Indiansto return o theirhomes"calm, secure and content " so that they would returnof their "own freewill." The governor'sreaction was to orderthat the Indiansbe conquered.Pacification was a euphemismfor conquest.

This disconnect reflected in languagewas symptomaticof a disconnectbetweenthekingandformulators f policy in Portugalandthe crownofficialsin Brazil,which often manifested tself in a power struggle.This underlinestheawesomeresponsibilities elegated o a governororviceroy by thekingashis representative. nterestingly,rare is reference to governors-generalorviceroys in these essays. Instead,governorsare the dominant igures.As the"manon the spot,"a governorwas at thatpointwheredecisionswere taken.He hadthe powerto declare a war as being just. The historiesof Amazonia,Minas Gerais andGoids told in theseessays show how a changeof governorcouldbe decisive,as was thecase in Goiasin the 1770swhengovernorsadvo-catedconquestby peacefulmeanswith considerable uccess.In late colonialMinas Geraisthe determination nd sense of mission sharedby a successionof governorsdrove a policy of offensive attacks.The downsidewas that,asSommernotes,a venalgovernorcouldabusehis authority, s happenedn theMaranhdowitha governor n the 1720sundermininghe systemandintentofdescimentosby giving dlvarasde descimento o individualswho were goingto use themto acquire ndians orpersonaluse insteadof for missions.

Indian agency is a dimension which has not received the attention itdemands. In partthis is because of the virtual absenceof Indian-generateddocumentary ources for the colonial period. In their absence, ratherthanattributingo Indians ntentionsand motivationswhichthey may never have



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 369entertained,heauthorsof theseessayshave described ituationswhereIndianagency was present.The most obvious examples concern the decisions byhead men. Sommer gives the example of 24 Tupinambai eadmen whodecided to form a confederation nd to attack hePortuguese ort at Bel6min1619.Otherheadmenconsciouslydecidedwhether o allythemselveswiththePortuguese rwiththeDutch,French,orEnglish n seventeenth-centuryma-zonia. Three authors(Metcalf, Sommer and Karasch)write on the criticalrolesplayedby mamelucosas negotiatorsbetweenthe worldof the Indianandthatof theEuropean.Movingeasily in both worldsand withtherequisite in-guistic and social skills and culturalsensitivitiesto functionequally effec-tively in either,mameluco eadersof entradasweresuperblyequipped o fullymeet theobjectiveof entradas,namelyto use diplomaticandpersuasive killsto induceIndians o relocatepeacefully.Oftenthey went so far as to "invest"in an Indianpeople in termsof residing n theirmidst, adoptingIndiancus-toms, and ingratiating hemselvesby acceptinga daughterof a headmanorinfluentialIndianas theirwife, therebyestablishingnot merely kinshipbutassuringthemselves of status, authority,and power. But, as Metcalf hasdescribedfor sixteenthcenturyBahia, all too often such "transactionalo-betweens" touse herterm)betrayed hetrustplacedin themby Indians n thesertaioand instead worked to further the interests of the sugar planters.Mamelucosalso playedimportant oles as interpretersn suchnegotiations nBahia.InAmazonia, heinstitution f the cunhamenahas beendocumentednthe late seventeenthcenturyand is describedby Sommer.This term wasappliedto men-usually mamelucos-who had establishedkinshipties byacceptingfrom a headmana female relative as a wife. This was regardedbyheadmenas a formof whatthey saw as insuranceand a necessaryprecondi-tion to relocating.Manysuchcunhamenaspursuedmilitarycareers,and theiraffiliationswithIndianpeoplesmadethempowerfulandsoughtafterby gov-ernorsandmissionaries.Go-betweens,butin a very differentcontext,playedimportant oles in furthering egotiationswhichresulted n thepeaceful"con-quests"of theKayap6,Karajaind Xavante n Goiis. Karaschhaspointedoutthe important ole of Indian not mameluco)womenin suchnegotiationsandas interpreters.Onesuch was DamianadaCunha,who herself ed expeditionsto persuadegroups of Kayap6to relocate;anotherwas Xuaman-pii, whoovercame hedistrustof theKarajai. araschhasaddressed he issue of Indianagency directlyand has drawnfromanthropologyo suggestthatvengeancewas one motiveforIndianattacks.

SOURCESAND HISTORIOGRAPHYTheseessays arethe fruit of extensive researches n archivesand librariesin PortugalandBrazil.Some are national: heArquivoNacional daTOrre o



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370 NEW DIRECTIONS IN BANDEIRISMOSTUDIESTombo,BibliotecaNacional, andArquivoHist6ricoUltramarinon Lisbonandthe BibliotecaNacional andArquivoNacionalin Rio de Janeiro.Othersareregional:in Minas Gerais, Pari, and Bahia. Metcalf has drawnheavilyon theresourcesof theArchivumRomanumSocietatis esus in Rome.Inqui-sition records (denunciations,confessions, trial records) in the Torre doTombo have been used creatively.Metcalfuses recordsof the visit to Bahiain 1591 of an inquisitor romthe Holy Office to tease out informationaboutthe numbersof entradasn sixteenthcenturyBahiaandto complementJesuitsources. She and Sommerare able to show that the intentof mamelucoswasto enslave rather hanpeacefullyto persuadeIndians o relocate,and such isthe richnessof the recordsthat thereare self descriptionsof the lengths towhich such mamelucoswould go (includingbody paintingand wearingoffeathers) to be incorporated nto Indian communities. Sommer has usedInquisitionconfessions in conjunctionwith records rom thePombalineCol-lection housed in the Biblioteca Nacional in Lisbon and the ArquivoHist6ricoUltramarino o reconstructwhat she characterizesas the "exem-plaryBragaheritage"of one such cunhamenaandhasemployedthe minutesof the Juntade Miss6es to plot movementsof a tropade resgateandcertifi-cationsby Jesuitsto gather nformationon thegender,age, andaffiliationofransomed Indians.Among primaryprinted sources found valuable weretravelers'narratives.

The historiography n thebandeirantes nd bandeirashas often been lessthanimpartial,revealingnationalisticor regionalbiases, attitudes avorableor hostile to the role of the Companyof Jesus.The field of bandeirismohasbeen redefined since Afonso Taunay'sclassic studyfor Sao Pauloin elevenvolumespublishedbetween 1924 and 1950.A new age in thehistoriographyon bandeirismowas ushered n by the seminalstudyon bandeirismo n SdoPauloby JohnMonteiro.8Recent studiesrelatedto bandeirismoare:essaysin Manuela Carneiroda Cunha,editor,Hist6ria dos Indios no Brasil; Rita8 John Manuel Monteiro,Negros da terra. Indios e bandeirantesnas origins de Sdo Paulo (SdoPaulo:Companhiade Letras,1994);ManuelaCarneirodaCunha,ed., Histdriados Indiosno Brasil (SdoPaulo:Companhiadas Letras, 1992); Rita Helofsade Almeida, O Diretdriodos Indios: Umprojetode

civilizagdono Brasil no seculo XVIII Brasfilia: ditoraUniversidadede Brasilia,1997);OdairGiraldin,Cayapde Panard:Lutae sobrevivenciade umpovo JI no Brasil Central(Campinas,Sdo Paulo:Editorada UNICAMP,1997);Angela Domingues, Quandoos Indios eram vassalos: colonizagdoe relaCgesdepoder no Brasil na segundametade do sdculo XVIII Lisbon:ComissaoNacionalparaas Comemoraqoesdos DescobrimentosPortugueses,2000); Paul David Wojtalewicz,"The 'Juntade Missbes': The Mis-sions in the AmazonBasin"(M.A.thesis: Universityof Minnesota,1993);Luiz Felipe de Alencastro,OTratodos Viventes.Fornmagdoo Brasil no AtldnticoSul. SdculosXVIe XVIII Sdo Paulo:Companhiadas Letras,2000); Alida Metcalf, Go-Betweensand the Conquestof Brazil(Austin,Universityof TexasPress)and Hal Langfur,TheForbiddenLands:FrontierViolence,ColonialIdentity,and the Persistenceof Brazil'sEasternIndians,1750-1834 (Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress).



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A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 371Heloisa de Almeidaon the Directorate;OdairGiraldinon Indians n centralBrazil;andAngelaDomingueson colonization n theAmazon;and the M.A.thesis of Paul David Wojtalewiczon the Juntade Missoes. Luiz Felipe deAlencastroprovidespoints of comparisonon a large canvas in his O Tratodos Viventes.Forma9dodo Brasil noAtlanticoSul.SeculosXVIe XVII(SaoPaulo: Companhiadas Letras, 2000).Two authorsof these essays, AlidaMetcalf andHal Langfur,will have the opportunity o sharetheir findingswith readers in greaterdepth in forthcomingbooks. Four decades haveelapsed since RichardMorseraised the issue of comparisonsbetween ban-deirismo n Braziland similaractivitiesin otherpartsof theAmericas.9Fewhistorianshave picked up the gauntlet.These essays demonstrate hat, bydefinition,bandeirismo n Brazil is comparative,butclearlythereareoppor-tunities for comparisonsamong Portuguese, Spanish, French, and AngloAmerican.Bandeirismo-by its verybreadthas a conceptandthemultitudeof facets in which it manifesteditself-makes this an ideal field for cross-fertilizationbetweendisciplinesand forcollaborationby scholarsdrawnnotmerelyfromdifferentdisciplinesbutby historians hroughouthe Americas.JohnsHopkinsUniversityBaltimore,Maryland

A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD

9 RichardMorse, ed., The Bandeirantes. The Historical Role of the Brazilian Pathfinders(NewYork:AlfredA. Knopf, 1965).

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