Brazilian Gold Rush

Last updated
Brazilian Gold Rush
Rodolfo Amoedo - Ciclo do Ouro, Acervo do Museu Paulista da USP.jpg
Ciclo do Ouro (Gold cycle), painting by Rodolfo Amoedo
DateLate 17th-late To modern day/Today
Location Ouro Preto, captaincy of Minas Gerais, Colonial Brazil, Portuguese Empire, Amazon Rainforest
CauseGold discovered by the bandeirantes in the mountains of Minas Gerais
Participants400,000 Portuguese miners
Brazilian miners
British miners
Other European miners
500,000 African slaves
OutcomeCreated the world's longest gold rush period and the largest gold mines in South America

The Brazilian Gold Rush was a gold rush that started in the 1690s, in the then Portuguese colony of Brazil in the Portuguese Empire. The gold rush opened up the major gold-producing area of Ouro Preto (Portuguese for black gold), then known as Vila Rica. [1] Eventually, the Brazilian Gold Rush created the world's longest gold rush period and the largest gold mines in South America.

Contents

The rush began when bandeirantes discovered large gold deposits in the mountains of Minas Gerais. [2] The bandeirantes were adventurers who organized themselves into small groups to explore the interior of Brazil. Many bandeirantes were of mixed indigenous and European background who adopted the ways of the natives, which permitted them to survive in the interior. While the bandeirantes were mainly searching for indigenous captives, they also searched for mineral wealth, which led to the discovery of gold.

More than 400,000 Portuguese and 500,000 African slaves came to the gold region to mine. Many people abandoned the sugar plantations and towns in the northeast coast to migrate to the gold region. By 1725, half the population of Brazil was living in the country's southeast.

Officially, 800 metric tons of gold were sent to Portugal in the 18th century. Other gold circulated illegally, and still other gold remained in the colony to adorn churches and for other uses. [3]

The municipality of Ouro Preto became the most populous city of Latin America, counting on about 40 thousand people in 1730 and, decades after, 80 thousand. At that time, the population of New York was less than half of that number of inhabitants and the population of São Paulo did not surpass 8 thousand. [4]

Minas Gerais was the gold mining center of Brazil. Slave labor was generally used for the workforce. [5] The discovery of gold in the area caused a huge influx of European immigrants and the government decided to bring in bureaucrats from Portugal to control operations. They set up numerous bureaucracies, often with conflicting duties and jurisdictions. The officials were generally uncapable of controlling this highly lucrative industry. [6] In 1830, the St. John d'el Rey Mining Company, controlled by the British, opened the largest gold mine in Latin America. The British brought in modern management techniques and engineering expertise. Located in Nova Lima, the mine extracted ore for 125 years. [7]

Cuiabá gold rush

In 1718 or 1719 [8] gold was found on the Cuiabá River. [9] This was about 1400 km northwest of São Paulo and Ouro Preto across mostly uncolonized country. The lasting effect of the gold rush was to extend a finger of Portuguese settlement northwest from São Paulo to the current Bolivian border.

The discoverers were Pascoal Moreira Cabral Leme and Antonio Pires de Campos. Miguel Sutil found half an arroba of gold in one day near the present town of Cuiabá. The area soon had a population of 7000 including 2600 slaves and was producing 400 arrobas of gold a month. Bom Jusus de Cuiabá was founded 1727. Prices were enormous due to the long distance. In 1728, when chests of Cuiabá gold were opened in Lisbon, they were found to contain lead instead. The culprits were never found. The deposits soon played out and by 1737 there were only 7 white men and a few slaves in Cuiabá town.

The 3500-km route to the gold fields ran 155 km overland from São Paulo to Porto Feliz, down the Tietê River and Paraná River, up the Rio Pardo, 13-km portage at Camapuã, down the Coxim and Taquari River through the Pantanal swamps, and up the Paraguay and Cuiabá. There were around 100 rapids. The route was just north of the ‘vacaria’ of cow country. The outbound journey, loaded with passengers and freight, started during high water from March to June and took from five to seven months. The return journey, loaded with gold, took a few months. The 1726 convoy had 305 canoes and over 3000 people. These convoys were called ‘monsoons’ (pt:Monções (expedições fluviais)).

In addition to rapids and mosquitoes, there were also Indians. The 1720 convoy was wiped out by unknown persons. In 1725 the Payaguá (a canoe people on the Paraguay) annihilated [10] a convoy with only two escaping. In 1728 they attacked some Bandeirantes and liberated their Paraesi captives. In 1730 they killed 400 people and captured 60 arrobas of gold. They did not understand its value. One Spaniard traded a tin plate for six pounds of gold. Some survivors of the 1730 raid walked overland to Camapuã. A 1733 convoy had only four survivors. Punitive expeditions failed until 1734 when an 842-man force destroyed a Payagua town. [11] In 1735 they killed all but four of a convoy. Attacks declined as the gold ran out and because the Payagua quarreled with their Guayacuru or Mbayá neighbors, a horse people on both sides of Paraguay.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minas Gerais</span> State in Southeastern Brazil

Minas Gerais ( ) is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte, is a major urban and finance center in Latin America, and the sixth largest municipality in Brazil and its metropolitan area is the third largest in Brazil with just over 5.8 million inhabitants, after those of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Nine Brazilian presidents were born in Minas Gerais, the most of any state. The state has 10.1% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 8.7% of the Brazilian GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ouro Preto</span> Municipality in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Ouro Preto, formerly Vila Rica, is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains, was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its Baroque colonial architecture. Ouro Preto used to be the capital of Minas Gerais from 1720 until the foundation of Belo Horizonte in 1897.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiradentes</span> 18th-century Brazilian revolutionary and national hero

Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes, was a leading member of the colonial Brazilian revolutionary movement known as Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full independence from Portuguese colonial rule and creation of a republic. When the separatists' plot was uncovered by authorities, Tiradentes was arrested, tried and publicly hanged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Emboabas</span>

The War of the Emboabas was a conflict in colonial Brazil waged in 1706-1707 and 1708-1709 over newly discovered gold fields, which had set off a rush to the region between two generations of Portuguese settlers in the viceroyalty of Brazil - then the Captaincy of São Vicente. The discovery of gold set off a rush to the region, Paulistas asserted rights of discovery and non-Paulistas challenged their claims. Although the Portuguese crown sought more control in the area and the Paulistas sought protection of their claims, the Emboabas won. The crown re-assessed its position in the region and made administrative changes subsequently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandeirantes</span> Explorers, slavers, and fortune hunters in colonial Brazil (15th–18th centuries)

The bandeirantes were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 1494, by which Pope Alexander VI divided the new continent into a western, Castilian section, and an eastern, Portuguese section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleijadinho</span> Colonial Brazilian sculptor and architect (c.1738–1814)

Antônio Francisco Lisboa, better known as Aleijadinho, was a sculptor, carver and architect of Colonial Brazil, noted for his works on and in various churches of Brazil. With a style related to Baroque and Rococo, Aleijadinho is considered almost by consensus as the greatest exponent of colonial art in Brazil by Brazilian critics and, surpassing Brazilian borders, for some foreign scholars he is the greatest name of Baroque in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamantina, Minas Gerais</span> Municipality in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Diamantina is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. Its estimated population in 2020 was 47,825 in a total area of 3,870 km2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mineiro</span> Brazilian Portuguese accent of Minas Gerais

Mineiro, Mineirês, or the Brazilian mountain accent is the Brazilian Portuguese term for the accent spoken in the Center, East and Southeast regions of the state of Minas Gerais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodovia Anhanguera</span> Highway in São Paulo, Brazil

The Rodovia Anhanguera is a highway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is one of the country's busiest transportation corridors. A 2005 survey conducted amongst Brazilian truck drivers rated it as the best transportation axis in the country. It is part of the federal highway called BR-050 that connects Brasilia to São Paulo, however, in the state of São Paulo it receives the name of SP-330.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernardo Guimarães</span>

Bernardo Joaquim da Silva Guimarães was a Brazilian poet and novelist. He is the author of the famous romances A Escrava Isaura and O Seminarista. He also introduced to Brazilian poetry the verso bestialógico, also referred to as pantagruélico — poems whose verses are very nonsensical, although very metrical. Under the verso bestialógico, he wrote polemical erotic verses, such as "O Elixir do Pajé" and "A Origem do Mênstruo". A non-erotic poem written in verso bestialógico is "Eu Vi dos Polos o Gigante Alado".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Brazil</span> Major industry in Brazil, South America

Mining in Brazil is centered on the extraction of iron, copper, gold, aluminum, manganese, tin, niobium, and nickel. About gemstones, Brazil is the world's largest producer of amethyst, topaz, agate and is a big producer of tourmaline, emerald, aquamarine, garnet and opal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Ouro Preto)</span> Church in Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is a Rococo Catholic church in Ouro Preto, Brazil. Its erection began in 1766 after a design by the Brazilian architect and sculptor Antônio Francisco Lisboa, otherwise known as Aleijadinho. Lisboa designed both the structure of the church and the carved decorations on the interior, which were only finished towards the end of the 19th century. The circular bell towers and the oculus closed by a relief were original features in religious architecture of that time in Brazil. The façade has a single entrance door under a soapstone frontispiece under a relief depicting Saint Francis receiving the stigmata. The interior is richly decorated with golden woodwork, statues and paintings, and the wooden ceiling displays a painting by Manuel da Costa Ataíde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estrada Real</span> Kings street

Estrada Real was an epithet applied to the roads built and maintained by the Portuguese Crown both in Portugal itself and in the Portuguese overseas territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Das Velhas River</span> River in Minas Gerais, Brazil

The das Velhas River, is the longest tributary of the basin of the São Francisco river. Its water flows into that river at a place called Barra do Guaicuí, in the municipality of Várzea da Palma, Minas Gerais. The source was found to be the Andorinhas waterfall located in the municipality of Ouro Preto.

The paulista general, also called southern general and tupi austral, was a lingua franca and creole language formed in the 16th century, in the Captaincy of São Vicente. Today it is only of historical interest, as it has been a dead language since the beginning of the 20th century. It constituted the southern branch of the Língua Geral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palmeiras-Barra Funda Intermodal Terminal</span>

Palmeiras-Barra Funda Intermodal Terminal is the second largest intermodal transportation hub in São Paulo, Brazil. The terminal has access to the São Paulo Metro, CPTM commuter rail, and numerous bus lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Institute of Minas Gerais</span>

The Federal Institute of Minas Gerais, or in full: Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Minas Gerais is a polytechnic university or community college located in the Brazilian cities of Belo Horizonte, Bambuí, Congonhas, Formiga, Governador Valadares, Ouro Preto, Ouro Branco, São João Evangelista and João Monlevade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron Quadrangle</span>

The Iron Quadrangle is a mineral-rich region covering about 7,000 square kilometres (2,700 sq mi) in the central-southern part of the Brazilian state Minas Gerais. The area is known for its extensive deposits of gold, diamonds, and iron ore, being the source of approximately 40% of all gold produced in Brazil between the years 1500 and 2000. The deposits themselves pertain to the Minas Supergroup, a sequence of meta-sedimentary rocks initially formed in the Paleoproterozoic, about 2.5 Ga. In the 2010s, there have been two collapses of large tailings dams, which caused extensive damage and loss of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vila Rica Revolt</span> Rebellion in colonial Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Vila Rica Revolt, also known as Vila Rica Sedition, was a colonial revolt against the Portuguese crown. It took place between June 28 and July 19, 1720, in Vila Rica, a city in the Royal Captaincy of Minas de Ouro and Campos Gerais dos Cataguases, in Colonial Brazil. It is traditionally considered a nativist movement by Brazilian historiography, and one of the precursors of the so-called Minas Gerais Conspiracy. Recent reviews show that it was part of a cycle of local contestations that sought to correct errors of the administration. It is also commonly referred to as Filipe dos Santos Revolt, after one of its leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Lady of the Pillar Mother Church (Ouro Preto)</span> Catholic church in Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais, Brazil)

The Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, popularly called the Our Lady of the Pillar Mother Church, is one of the best known Catholic buildings among those erected during the Brazilian gold rush. It is a listed monument by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). It is located at the Monsenhor Castilho Barbosa Square.

References

  1. C. R. Boxer, "Brazilian Gold and British Traders in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century", Hispanic American Historical Review (1969) 49#3 pp. 454-472 in JSTOR
  2. "Ouro Preto." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 27 Apr. 2009
  3. "Ouro Preto Ouro Preto". Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  4. "Ouro Preto". Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  5. Kathleen J. Higgins, Licentious Liberty in a Brazilian Gold-Mining Region: Slavery, Gender & Social Control in Eighteenth-Century Sabara, Minas Gerais (1999)
  6. A. J. R. Russell-Wood, "Local Government in Portuguese America. A Study of Cultural Divergence," Comparative Studies in Society & History (1974) 16#2 pp 187-231.
  7. Marshall C. Eakin, British Enterprise in Brazil: The St. John d'el Rey Mining Company & the Morro Velho Gold Mine, 1830-1960 (1990)
  8. 1718:Boxer, p.254,1719: Hemming p392
  9. C.R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil, 1965, pp 254-269, John Hemming, Red Gold,1995, pp 393-415
  10. Boxer, p265 has a 600-man convoy, Hemming, p403 says 200.
  11. Hemming, p408, has 600 killed and 240 enslaved. Boxer has around 1000 killed or captured .