ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

Type a location (e.g. Barcelona), or a year (e.g. 1638) or a category of event (e.g. uprising) to filter the corresponding results.

Salt revolt 1710

Synopsis
The so-called salt revolt was an armed rebellion led by a powerful ‘Paulista’ landowner named Bartolomeu Fernandes Faria, who ransacked the salt depot of the port city of Santos. After overwhelming the Portuguese defenses, the unruly chieftain returned with the loot to his farm in Jacareí, crossing the hills of Serra do Mar on his way back. The supply of salt in São Paulo had always been a contentious issue. The merchants that acquired the exclusive right to supply this indispensable commodity often failed to meet the local needs. They also tended to stockpile the salt in Santos, which made the price skyrocket, enraging the population. Complaints had been issued since the mid-17th century, but the growing demands of the gold-mining settlements made the situation desperate for the general population and meat producers. The attack of Bartolomeu Fernandes Faria, carried out by 200 Indian, Black, and mixed-race men, was not an act of popular mobilization, though. Bartolomeu Fernandes Faria was not looking for social justice, nor was he acting selflessly, in line with the supposedly independent and defiant spirit of the ‘Paulistas’, as was once posited by a nationalist scholarship. He was a vulgar and cruel criminal, who ended up being arrested for taking part in two brutal assassinations, not for challenging the king’s authority in the salt revolt of 1710. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that in the following year, the issue of the price of salt would also be among the causes of a revolt in the capital city of Salvador (see Maneta revolt 1711).
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 1 day. Name in sources: Revolta do sal. Location: Santos Country (current): Brazil. Monarchy: Portuguese. Main participants: Indigenous, Local elites, Settlers/Colonists. Number of participants: 100-250. Main reasons & motivations: Economic, Fiscal, Food. Leadership: Bartolomeu Fernandes Faria. Relevance: low.

Further reading
MONTEIRO, John Manuel (1999). “Sal, justiça social e autoridade régia: São Paulo no início do século XVIII”. Revista Tempo, 4 (8), pp. 1-14. PIZA, Antônio de Toledo (1898). “Chronicas dos tempos coloniais. A miséria do sal na capitania de São Paulo”. Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de São Paulo, 4, pp. 279-294.
Cite this entry

Cruz, Miguel Dantas da (2024). "Salt revolt 1710", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. http://atlas.cidehusdigital.uevora.pt/revolt/salt-revolt-1710/ (accessed on 06 Junho 2024).