Amerindians and Africans in the São Paulo state interior: a study of the transition from bondage of indigenous persons to African slavery in the Vila de Jundiai settlement, São Paulo, in the 18th century

Abstract

The aim of this article is the presentation of analyses made from the primary sources “Book of Deaths” and “Book of Marriages” of Amerindians and Africans in the settlement “Villa da Nossa Senhora do Desterro de Jundiahy”, São Paulo, Brazil. The information presented in these manuscripts demonstrates the significant presence of Amerindians in this center of settlement in the São Paulo state interior until the last decades of the 18th century. It demonstrates the moment in which the indigenous segments of the population first stop being bonded labor and forced labor becomes increasingly attributed to individuals of African origin and descendance. At that same time indigenous people and their descendants transitioned to the condition of free men and came to occupy the lowest strata of the forming ‘paulista’ colonial society.