ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Anti-Jesuit riot in Maranhão 1661

Synopsis
In 1661, Portuguese settlers in the cities of São Luís do Maranhão and Belém do Pará, in the Portuguese Amazon region, rioted against the Jesuit missionaries who were responsible for the catechesis of Indigenous peoples. The Amazon region of Portuguese America -- which was at the time a separate and independent province called the State of Maranhão and Pará -- relied heavily on the Amazonian Indian workforce. Since 1655, the crown had granted the Society of Jesus authority over free Indians in the missionary towns, as well as control over the rules of Indigenous enslavement. Settlers and local authorities recurrently complained about what they denounced as the greed of the Jesuit fathers who hindered their right to exploit Amazonian Indians' labour. They accused the clerics of the shortage of Indigenous labour force and, more generally, of their own poverty. The Portuguese seized the priests of both cities and those scattered over the missions, among them the well-known father Antonio Vieira (accused of being the leading cause of the settlers' straits) and expelled them from the state. Two years after the rebellion, King Afonso VI pardoned the rebels and issued an order ending the Jesuits' political control over the missionary towns. The Society of Jesus, according to the monarch, could return to the Amazon region provided they took care of their religious tasks only.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 10 months. Name in sources: Expulsão dos jesuítas do Maranhão; Motim; Levante. Location: Belém and São Luís (State of Maranhão and Pará) Country (current): Brazil. Monarchy: Portuguese. Main participants: Local elites, Settlers/Colonists. Number of participants: 100-250. Main reasons & motivations: Economic, Multiple. Leadership: Unknown. Relevance: low.

Further reading
ALDEN, Dauril (1969). "Black robes versus white settlers: the struggle for 'freedom of the Indians' in Colonial Brazil", in H. Pechman, C. Gibson (eds), Attitudes of colonial powers toward the American indian. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, pp. 19-45. CARVALHO, Roberta Lobão (2013). "A Construção jesuítica do levante e expulsão da Companhia de Jesus do Maranhão (1661 e 1684)". 7 Mares, 2:52-63. CHAMBOULEYRON, Rafael (2006). "'Duplicados clamores'. Queixas e rebeliões na Amazônia colonial (século XVII)", Projeto História, 33:159-178.
Cite this entry

(2023) "Anti-Jesuit riot in Maranhão 1661", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. (accessed on ).