Canudos | |
|---|---|
 Canudos, circa 1895 | |
 Location in Bahia | |
| Country |  Brazil |
| Region | Nordeste |
| State | Bahia |
| Population (2020 [1] ) | |
| • Total | 16,753 |
| Time zone | UTC−3 (BRT) |
Canudos is a municipality in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil. The original town, since flooded by the Cocorobó Dam, was the scene of violent clashes between peasants and republican police in the 1890s.
The municipality contains part of the Raso da Catarina ecoregion. [2]
The town of Canudos was founded in the racially diverse [3] Bahia state of northeastern Brazil in 1893 by Antônio Vicente Mendes Maciel, an itinerant preacher from Ceara. [4] Mendes Maciel had been wandering through the backroads and lesser-inhabited areas of the country from the 1870s onwards, followed by a band of loyal supporters. As his following swelled, he took on the name Antônio Conselheiro (Antônio the Counselor) and increasingly began to trouble the local authorities, who saw him as a Monarchist [5] and thus a threat to their legitimacy.
In 1893, following a protest over taxation and a violent melee with the police forces in Masseté, Conselheiro and his band settled on an abandoned farm called Canudos, so called because a plant, canudo-de-pita (scientific name Ipomoea carnea , its popular name referring to its hollow tubes, used for manufacturing smoking pipes) was common in the region. The place was named Belo Monte (Beautiful Mount) by Antonio Conselheiro, but the old name, Arraial de Canudos, prevailed. Over the years people from across Bahia, including landless farmers, former slaves, indigenous people and cangaceiros flocked to join him, and within a few years the fledgling settlement numbered 30,000 people (which made it the second largest urban center in Bahia behind Salvador [6] ) and had developed a leather exporting business. [7]
As a community, Canudos operated somewhat like a religious commune, with Antônio Conselheiro as the principal member and director. Canudos was a heavily religious settlement, under the sway of Antonio's fanaticism, but despite his fanaticism he did not assume any official position of authority. The settlement practiced common ownership, abolished the official currency, negated Brazilian national laws and participated collectively in the management of the town. Canudos was in essence a reaction against the contemporary Brazilian nation. [8]
Neither the local nor national government supported the settlement in Canudos. The local government of Bahia felt pressure from landowners to take action against the settlement because of labor shortages caused by migration. [6] The Brazilian national government wanted a military expedition sent to destroy Canudos in the name of liberalism and progress. [9] In the words of one historian, "The mere existence of autonomous movements not subject to state control was antithetical to the national interest. Canudos stood for such autonomy, and therefore had to be destroyed." [6]
The first three invasions were amply defeated by the villagers. However, in 1897, a considerably larger fourth invasion force managed to overwhelm the village. Their success was in part helped by the death, from dysentery, of Antônio Conselheiro, during the early stages of the siege. The Brazilian army showed no mercy, brutally massacring the survivors and destroying the entire village. An academician, Alvim Horcades, would thus describe the massacre:
"Eu vi e assisti a sacrificar-se todos aqueles miseráveis (...) e com sinceridade o digo: em Canudos foram degolados quase todos os prisioneiros (...) Arrancar-se a vida a uma criancinha (...) é o maior dos barbarismos e dos crimes que o homem pode praticar." ("I saw and witnessed the sacrifice of all those poor people (...) and I say with all sincerity: in Canudos almost all the prisoners were beheaded (...) To take the life of a little child (...) is the greatest of cruelties and crimes man can commit.")[ citation needed ]
Today the area is submerged by water, the result of the Cocorobó Dam project in the 1970s, which blocked the Vaza-Barris River and flooded the old city. At low water the ruins of the church that was once the village's centrepiece can occasionally be seen. Once a year, in October, a mass is held to commemorate those lost in what is known today as the War of Canudos. The municipality of Nova Canudos was built nearby, at latitude 09º53'48" South and longitude 39º01'35" West, and currently has around 13,000 inhabitants.
The story of Canudos was told by war correspondent Euclides da Cunha in the book Os Sertões (1901; translated into English as Rebellion in the Backlands, 1944), which helped inspire and provide material for the novel The War of the End of the World by Peruvian Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa (1981). The conflict was also described at length by Peter Robb in "A Death in Brazil" (2004). In fictional form it appears in the novel "The First Garment" (1975) by a Georgian writer Guram Dochanashvili.
The municipality contains the 1,321 hectares (3,260 acres) Canudos State Park, created in 1986 to commemorate the War of Canudos. [10]
Sebastianism is a Portuguese messianic myth, based on the belief that King Sebastian of Portugal, who disappeared in the battle of Alcácer Quibir, would reappear and return to Portugal at some critical point in the future. The belief gained momentum after an interpretation by priest António Vieira of the second chapter of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. In Brazil the most important manifestation of Sebastianism took place in the context of the Proclamation of the Republic, when movements defending a return to the monarchy emerged. It is categorised as an example of the King asleep in mountain folk motif, typified by people awaiting a hero. The Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa wrote about such a hero in his epic Mensagem.
Euclides da Cunha was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is Os Sertões, a non-fictional account of the military expeditions promoted by the Brazilian government against the rebellious village of Canudos, known as the War of Canudos.
Antônio Conselheiro, in English "Anthony the Counselor", real name Antônio Vicente Mendes Maciel, was a Brazilian religious leader, preacher and founder of the village of Canudos, the scene of the War of Canudos (1896–1897), a civil rebellion against the central government which was brutally stamped out with the loss of more than 25,000 lives.
The War of Canudos was a conflict between the First Brazilian Republic and the residents of Canudos in the northeastern state of Bahia. It was waged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery in Brazil (1888) and the overthrow of the monarchy (1889). The conflict arose from a millenarian cult led by Antônio Conselheiro, who began attracting attention around 1874 by preaching spiritual salvation to the poor population of the sertão, a region which suffered from severe droughts. Conselheiro and his followers came into attrition with the local authorities after founding the village of Canudos. The situation soon escalated, with Bahia's government requesting assistance from the federal government, who sent military expeditions against the settlement.
A jagunço, from the Portuguese zarguncho, is an armed band or bodyguard, usually hired by plantation owners and "colonels" in the backlands of Brazil, especially in Northern Brazil. They were hired to protect their employer, big land owner, against invaders and feudal enemies, and also to control their slaves and indentured servants. Some farmers formed their own private militias with a number of heavily armed jagunços. There were also free-lancing or mercenary jagunços, who could be hired for temporary conflicts, as vigilantes, or for contract murders. Local folklore says that jagunços with yellow eyes were particularly fearsome and efficient.
Paulo Afonso is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It was founded in 1958.
Os Sertões, translated as Rebellion in the Backlands, is a book written by the Brazilian author Euclides da Cunha. Mixing science and literature, the author narrates the true story of a war that happened at the end of the 19th century in Canudos, a settlement of Bahia's Sertão ("backland"), an extremely arid region where, even now, struggles against poverty, drought and political corruption continue. During the war (1893–1897) against the republican army, the sertanejos were commanded by a messianic leader called Antônio Conselheiro.
The Vaza-Barris River is a river in northeastern Brazil. The Vaza-Barris originates in northeastern Bahia state, and flows east through Bahia and Sergipe states to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near São Cristóvão.
Raso da Catarina Ecological Station is a strictly protected ecological station in the state of Bahia in Brazil. It lies in the Raso da Catarina ecoregion of the Caatinga biome.
Inhambupe is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. The town lies along Highway 110, approximately 161 kilometres (100 mi) by road north of Salvador. In 2022 it had an estimated 33,790 inhabitants.
Uauá [pronounce: uaua] is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.
Jeremoabo is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.
Macururé is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.
Events in the year 1896 in Brazil.
Events in the year 1897 in Brazil.
The Serra Branca / Raso da Catarina Environmental Protection Area is an environmental protection area in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Its sandstone cliffs are home to the endangered Lear's macaw.
The Raso da Catarina is an ecoregion in the caatinga biome of Bahia and Pernambuco, Brazil. It is a sandstone plateau, much eroded, that is extremely dry for most of the year. Vegetation includes low bushes, often thorny, cacti and bromeliads.
The Cocorobó Dam is a dam in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It provides a reservoir of water for irrigation and drinking in the arid caatinga environment of the Raso da Catarina. The reservoir covers the ruins of the city of Canudos, scene of the War of Canudos in 1896–97.
The Canudos State Park is a state park in Bahia, Brazil. It protects the area of the War of Canudos, where peasants of mixed blood were massacred by Republican soldiers in 1896–97.
Vale of Tears: Revisiting the Canudos Massacre in Northeastern Brazil, 1893–1897 is a book by historian Robert M. Levine published by the University of California Press in 1992. The book goes into detail of the Massacre that occurred in the Northeastern state of Bahia. Focused on the events from 1893-1897, the book looks at the life of Antônio Conselheiro and the city that he created. Antônio Conselheiro was a Brazilian religious leader, preacher, and the creator of Canudos, the scene of the War of Canudos (1896-1897). This war was between the state of Brazil and the 30,000 settlers that followed Antônio Conselheiro. After multiple confrontations the central government brutally took control of the city killing more than 15,000 people and destroying what was left of the town.
9°57′50″S39°09′50″W / 9.964°S 39.164°W
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