The “Bandeirantes ”, also called “Sertanistas ”, were the pioneer explorers to explore the Brazilian sertões, between the 16th and 18th centuries.
As a rule, they were direct descendants of Europeans, mainly Portuguese, and were responsible for expanding and conquering the limits of the Portuguese colony's possessions.
The bandeirantes expanded the borders established by the Treaty of Tordesillas , conquering "inch by foot" each region from each expedition carried out.
Armed with vests and armor, as well as pistols, arquebuses, rifles, muskets, blunderbusses, swords, spears, crossbows, etc., the pioneer detachments entered the Brazilian forests, made up of troops of Indians and caboclos, establishing settlement centers and waging war. .
However, these pioneers spoke more the Tupi language than Portuguese itself.
They are credited with discovering precious metals and stones from the mining regions, as well as promoting the economy in the colony, since they practiced the trade, especially in cattle and indigenous slaves for agriculture and the decimation of entire tribes, either by violence. or disease.
To learn more:Colony Brazil and Treaty of Tordesillas
Main Types of Girl Scouts
From the outset, it is worth distinguishing the actions of the bandeirantes from those carried out by the Government officially, namely, the “Entradas ”, financed by the crown, but limited to the Treaty of Tordesillas.
In turn, the “Flags ” were private expeditions, often with unofficial support from the crown, to obtain precious metals and stones, known as “prospecting flags "; for the capture and enslavement of indigenous people (first the most aloof, then those already catechized in the Jesuit missions); and those known as “Contract Sertanismo ”, in which the pioneers were hired as mercenaries to fight aggressive Indians and black quilombolas.
São Paulo and the Bandeirantes
From the outset, it is worth mentioning that the pioneers were concentrated in the current state of São Paulo, where their passage generated countless villages, which became cities.
Using the Tietê River and its tributaries, they were able to cross the dense forests that separated the coast from the plateau, transforming São Paulo into an outpost, just after the Serra do Mar, connecting São Vicente on the coast with the interior of the colony, remembering that the Portuguese population was concentrated on the coast, where the extraction of pau-brasil and the planting of sugar cane were practiced.
Historical Context
From the second half of the 16th century onwards, with the union of the Iberian crowns , the Bandeiras that entered Brazilian territory were already being organized to contain indigenous attacks. However, from 1595 onwards, the enslavement of Gentiles was prohibited by the court in the colony.
In turn, in the 17th century, the Dutch took control of African markets, making black labor scarce and leading to the enslavement of the Indian, often with the backing of the metropolis.
For this reason, the Paulistas will attack the Jesuit missions for decades, capturing Indians already catechized and “domesticated” for work. It was with this intention that the flag organized by Dom Francisco de Sousa in 1605 leaves with more than 270 Portuguese to hunt Indians.
In 1628, a great offensive of pioneers (more than 900 whites and 3000 Indians) definitively expelled the Jesuits and captured thousands of Indians in the missions. In 1632, this fact was repeated with the capture of thousands of Guarani in Vila do Espírito Santo.
From 1640, with the end of the Iberian Union , the bandeirantes will assist in the expulsion of the Dutch . Twenty years later, they were already in the upper Tocantins, southern Mato Grosso, central Goiás, Piauí, Bolivia, Uruguay and northern Paraguay, not to mention the territory of Minas, where gold was discovered in 1690.
In 1695, Domingos Jorge Velho destroyed the Quilombo dos Palmares . A few years later, in 1707, the pioneers of São Paulo were involved in the War of the Emboabas , being defeated by Portuguese and migrants from other territories of the colony.
In 1748, the pioneers had already established themselves in the captaincies of Goiás and Mato Grosso, as well as south of Laguna, in Santa Catarina.
In the meantime, their descendants settled in the conquered territories and the flag movement declined.
To learn more:
- Quilombo dos Palmares
- War of the Emboabas
- Mineral Triangle
Main Girl Scouts
The most notorious pioneers were:
- Fernão Dias Pais
- Manuel Borba Gato
- Sunday Jorge Velho
- Antonio Raposo Tavares
- Bartolomeu Bueno da Veiga
- Jerome Leitão