Missões Franciscanas como ferramenta da conquista dos sertões de Pernambuco (1659-1763)

Abstract

In the conquest of new territories, Portugal had the suport of institutions such as the Catholic Church, that legitimated its expansion and consolidate its empire. Friars from various religious orders were present in the colonization of entries, mediating the contact of different cultures, pacifying and dilating border regions, through missionary activity. It is thinking about the importance of the Church for the colonization of Brazil that our research aims to study the indigenous catechetical missions in Pernambuco, administered by the Order of St. Francis, in order to understand how these religious contributed to spatial delimitation of the territory of said captaincy. Our time frame is from 1659, when it was founded the Province of St. Anthony of Brazil, and in 1763, during which the missions were transformed into towns and the Franciscans lost their spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the Indians. We will use a range of documents, the main collection the Provincial Archives Franciscan, which allows us to understand the relationships established within and outside the villages, the interests that circled and the missionary method of the Friars Minor.