Sites, farms and the dynamics of Territorial appropriation in colonial Brazil

the case of the Ararobá backlands (Pernambuco, 18th century)

Abstract

This essay aims to discuss some important concepts to understand the territorial occupation of the Portuguese America hinterlands, between the 17th and 18th centuries: Territory, Sovereignty and Property Rights over land. From a case study here presented, the occupation of the Ararobá hinterlands in the Palmares maroon in Pernambuco, it will draw attention to the exercise of effective dominion by the maroons over the land, blocking the local sesmeiros property rights. Then, it shows the multiples property practices that, locally, constructed the observed rights property in that hinterland, thus making possible for the Portuguese Crown to exercise its sovereignty over peoples and lands.