The Beckman Revolt , of the I Beckman or Bequimão brothers, was a rebellion that took place in the city of São Luís, Province of Maranhão (which included the current territories of Maranhão, Ceará, Piauí, Pará and Amazonas) between 1684 and 1685.
The revolt can be considered one of the Brazilian nativist movements, despite being an isolated historical fact that did not contest Portuguese domination in any way, since it represented simple conflicts of interest between the settlers and the metropolitan administration, considered ineffective.
Main Causes
From 1650 onwards, with the expulsion of the Dutch from the Brazilian Northeast, the province of Maranhão went into decline due to the economic crisis that set in, due to the lack of slave labor, as well as the supply and flow of products.
In turn, the “Companhia do Comércio do Maranhão ”, created in 1682, was supposed to solve the aforementioned problems; however, it failed and exacerbated the province's economic crisis.
With this interference, the population began to live in conditions of extreme poverty, suffering from the lack of supply of basic items, such as food and manufactured goods (usually of very poor quality and sold at very high prices).
Unsurprisingly, local merchants were greatly harmed by the company's monopoly, while rural landowners did not receive fair prices for their products.
Thus, with the lack of slave labor in the region due to the resistance of the Jesuit missionaries, the settlers were so dissatisfied that they rose up to demand the extinction of the General Company of Commerce of the State of Maranhão and the expulsion of the Jesuits from the province.
To learn more :
- Colonial Brazil
- Slavery in Brazil
- State of Maranhão
Historical Context
In February 1684, with the absence of Governor Francisco de Sá de Menezes, the brothers Manuel and Tomás Beckman, leaders of the movement together with Jorge de Sampaio de Carvalho, supported by the local population, as well as by merchants and rural landowners (about 70 armed men), surrendered the Guard Corps (less than ten men) in São Luís and captured the Captain-General Baltasar Fernandes. Subsequently, they invade and loot a warehouse belonging to the Companhia de Comércio do Maranhão, initiating the revolt.
By February 25, the insurgents had already taken over the City Council and established a General Government Board, made up of landowners, merchants and the clergy. As soon as they were sworn in, they deposed the Captain-General and the Governor, as well as decreeing the end of the stagnation and the Commerce Company.
Consequently, the government board dispatched its emissaries to Belém do Pará, in order to communicate the governor's deposition, and to Portugal, highlighting Manuel's own brother, Tomás Beckman, sent to Lisbon to swear allegiance to the king and the Crown and denounce the Trading Company. However, upon disembarking, he received a voice of arrest and was brought back to Maranhão, where he was sentenced to exile.
In turn, in 1685 in Brazil, the insurgents occupied the Colégio dos Mascates and expelled the Jesuits who lived there. For about a year, Manuel Beckman controlled a revolutionary junta and ruled the Province of Maranhão.
Finally, on May 15, 1685, the new governor, Gomes Freire de Andrade, in command of Portuguese troops, landed in the city, where he met no resistance. He reinstates the authorities and, with the confirmation of the accusations made to the Companhia do Comércio do Maranhão, requests the end of its activities.
The leaders of the revolt, Manuel Beckman and Jorge de Sampaio, will be arrested, tried and sentenced to death by hanging, while the others involved are sentenced to life imprisonment.