The population of Brazil, 1570-1700: a historiographical review

Carrara, Angelo Alves

doi:10.1590/TEM-1980-542X-2014203619eng

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Article • Tempo 20 • 2014 • https://doi.org/10.1590/TEM-1980-542X-2014203619eng copy

The population of Brazil, 1570-1700: a historiographical review

La población de Brasil, 1570-1700: una revisión historiográfica

La population du Brésil, 1570-1700: une révision historiographique

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This article reviews the historiography of Brazil's population estimates for the period from 1570 until the beginning of the 18th century, with special attention to Contreiras Rodrigues, whose work became a benchmark for nearly all studies. The article also aims to compare the data with other available sources, such as tax sources, as well as to assess the validity of the proposed estimates.

colonial Brazil; population; historiography

Captaincies	1570	1583			1585			ca, 1590
		a	b	c	a	b	c	a	b	c
Paraíba	100	-	-	-	50	-	-	90	250	-
Pernambuco	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	150	400	-
Bahia	1,000	1,000	-	2,000	1,110	10,000	2,000	2,000	18,000	2,000
Ilhéus	1,100	3,000	3,500	8,000	2,000	3,000	8,000	1,500	18,000	3,600
Porto Seguro	200	150	-	-	150	-	-	300	400	2,000
Espírito Santo	220	40	-	-	100	-	-	290	3,000	3,000
Rio de Janeiro	180	150	-	-	150	-	4,500	400	700	9,000
São Vicente	140	150	-	-	150	-	3,000	280	700	3,000
Neighbors	500	330	-	-	300	-	-	600	800	6,000
Vizinhos	3,440	4,820	3,500	10,000	4,010	13,000	17,500	5,610	42,250	28,600

^a
: total of hearths (or, as more commonly shown in the sources, "neighbors") composed of Portuguese residents;
^b
: total of African slaves;
^c
: total of Christian Indians.
Sources: 1) For 1570: Pero de Magalhães Gândavo, Tratado da terra do Brasil, Belo Horizonte, Itatiaia, 1980, capítulos 1 a 9; 2) for 1583: Fernão Cardim, "Narrativa epistolar de uma viagem e missão jesuítica", In: Fernão Cardim, Tratados da terra e da gente do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, J. Leite, 1925, p. 279-415: "the city [of Bahia] has a population of 3,000 Portuguese neighbors, 8,000 Christian Indians, and 3,000 or 4,000 slaves from Guinea"; "the village of Nossa Senhora da Vitória [of Espírito Santo] will have over 150 neighbors with their vicar"; "the city [of Rio de Janeiro] has 150 neighbors with their vicar and many slaves of the land"; the Portuguese population of the captaincy of São Vicente was distributed through the villages of Piratininga ("120 neighbors with their slaves of the land" [p. 356]; "120 neighbors or more" [p. 359]); São Vicente, with 80; Santos, 80, and Itanhaém, 50; 3) for 1585: José de Anchieta (Padre), "Informação da Província do Brasil para nosso padre, 1585", In: ______, Cartas, informações, fragmentos históricos e sermões do padre José de Anchieta, S. J. (1554-1594), Rio de Janeiro, Civilização Brasileira, 1933, p. 409-447. This document corresponds to the translation of the manuscript in Spanish and writing contemporary of the 16th century from the Évora Library, published by Capistrano de Abreu - José de Anchieta, Informações e fragmentos historicos do padre Joseph de Anchieta, S.J. (1584-1586) [Pref. de João Capistrano de Abreu], Rio de Janeiro, Imprensa Nacional, 1886, p. VII e nota na p. 55-56 (Cartas jesuíticas; Folha de rosto adicional: "Materiaes e achegas para a Historia e Geographia do Brasil publicadas por ordem do Ministerio da Fazenda. n. 1, julho de 1886"). Capistrano maintains the authorship of Anchieta and the date - 1585, as well as discusses the patent similarity of various sections of the Information by Anchieta with the epistolary narrative of Fernão Cardim; the total of the captaincy of Pernambuco is the sum of the inhabitants of Olinda ("1,000 neighbors with its county of Portuguese people, with their vicar and other secular clergy") and Igaraçu ("110 white neighbors with their vicar"); about Salvador, he noted that the size of the population is "not very large, because most people live outside of their sugar mills and farms; it has, in its entire county, almost 2,000 Portuguese neighbors, for which there are 10,000 or 12,000 people for their service in the mills and farms [that is, servants]; there are up to 3,000 slaves from Guinea and approximately 8,000 Christian Indians of the land, among slaves and free"; the population of the captaincy of Porto Seguro was distributed in two villages: Santa Cruz, with 50 neighbors, and Porto Seguro, with 50; Espírito Santo: 150 neighbors; the Portuguese population of the captaincy of São Vicente was distributed through the villages of São Vicente (50 hearths), Santos (100), Itanagar (30 "white neighbors"), and Piratininga (120 hearths); 4) for ca. 1590: Francisco Soares, Coisas notáveis do Brasil, vol. 1, Rio de Janeiro, Instituto Nacional do Livro, 1966, p. 11. Originally published in bibliographic archive of the Library of the University of Coimbra (current title: Boletim da Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra), vol. 4, Coimbra, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 1904, as well as in the Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, vol. 2, 1923, p. 367-421.
Note: Harold Johnson gives a figure of 12,000 people for Pernambuco in 1585 and assigns six individuals to each hearth. Harold Johnson, "The Portuguese settlement of Brazil, 1500-1580", In: Leslie Bethell, Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, p. 279.

	1570	1583	1589	1612	1629
Ilhéus	8	3	6	5	4
Bahia	18	36	50	50	80
Pernambuco	23	66	70	90	150
Itamaracá	1	0	2	10	18
Paraíba	0	0	2	12	24
Total	50	105	130	167	276

	H	C	C/H
Rio de Janeiro
Sé	650	3,500	5,38
Candelária	600	2,800	4,67
Santo Antônio de Macacu [or do Caceribu]	167	1,037	6,21
Santíssima Trindade	60	500	8,33
Nossa Senhora do Desterro de Itambi	95	693	7,29
São João de Itaboraí	91	382	4,20
Nossa Senhora da Piedade de Magé	148	547	3,70
São Nicolau de Suruí	-	400	-
Nossa Senhora da Guia de Pacobaíba	71	448	6,31
Santo Antônio [de Iguaçu]	100	212	2,12
Nossa Senhora da Piedade de Inhomirim	60	300	5,00
Nossa Senhora da Apresentação de Irajá	200	1,800	9,00
São João de Meriti	-	-	-
Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Marapicú	65	396	6,09
Nossa Senhora da Ajuda de Guapimirim	49	330	6,73
São Tiago de Inhaúma	75	550	7,33
Nossa Senhora do Loreto de Jacarepaguá	186	400	2,15
Nossa Senhora do Desterro de Campo Grande	70	313	4,47
Santo Antônio de Inhoaíba	30	150	5,00
São Gonçalo	250	-	-
São João de Icaraí	134	1,420	10,60
São Sebastião de Itaipu	20	50	2,50
Nossa Senhora do Bonsucesso de Piratininga	18	170	9,44
Nossa Senhora da Assunção de Cabo Frio	81	459	5,67
São Salvador dos Campos	150	800	5,33
São João da Barra de Paraíba	22	150	6,82
Nossa Senhora de Nazaré de Saquarema	60	150	2,50
Nossa Senhora do Amparo de Maricá	70	180	2,57
Vila de Angra dos Reis da Ilha Grande	152	606	3,99
Vila de Parati	65	240	3,69
Subtotal	3,739	18,983	5,07
Espírito Santo
Nossa Senhora da Vitória do Espírito Santo	288	2,026	7,03
Vila Velha do Espírito Santo	60	200	3,33
Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Guarapari	34	270	7,94
Aldeia de índios em Guarapari	200	400	2,00
Subtotal	582	2,896	4,97
Porto Seguro
Nossa Senhora da Pena de Porto Seguro	141	745	5,28
Santa Cruz do Porto Seguro	47	285	6,06
Aldeia de índios em Santa Cruz do Porto Seguro	32	77	2,41
Santo Antônio de Caravelas	60	120	2,00
Subtotal	280	1,227	4,38
São Paulo
Vila de São Paulo	-	1,520	-
Santo Amaro	118	740	6,27
Nossa Senhora do Monserrate [de Cotia]	72	100	1,39
São João [de Atibaia]	147	457	3,11
Nossa Senhora do Desterro [de Mairiporã]	43	200	4,65
Nossa Senhora da Conceição [de Araçariguama]	65	430	6,62
Vila de Jundiaí	69	309	4,48
Vila de Jacareí	144	4,010	27,85
Vila de Taubaté	353	1,400	3,97
Vila de Santo Antônio de Guaratinguetá	61	250	4,10
Vila de Pindamonhangaba	56	152	2,71
Vila de Mogi	296	692	2,34
Vila de Itu	300	2,000	6,67
Vila de Sorocaba	75	300	4,00
Vila de Parnaíba	300	900	3,00
Vila de Ubatuba	67	242	3,61
Vila de São Sebastião	125	500	4,00
Vila de São Vicente	70	400	5,71
Vila de Santos	170	500	2,94
Vila da Conceição	70	500	7,14
Vila de Iguape	67	96	1,43
Vila de Cananeia	57	290	5,09
Subtotal	2,725	15,988	5,87
Santa Catarina e Paraná
Vila do Rio de São Francisco [do Sul]	17	370	21,76
Vila de Paranaguá	168	470	2,80
Curitiba	37	150	4,05
Subtotal	222	990	4,45
Total	7,548	39,922	5,29

	1693	1701
Strip I — from Paraíba to the North of Alagoas: 300 km of coast between Mamanguape and Camaragibe
Mamanguape	130	90
Two small Indian villages	70
Paraíba	1,600	1,650
Taquara	150	200
Desterro (currently Itambé)	72	-
Goiana	600	600
Tejucopapo	208	180
Itamaracá	160	280
Igarassu	400	600
Tracunhaém	100	260
São Lourenço da Mata	850	450
Aldeia de Limoeiro (85 km from Recife)	20	-
Aldeia de Araribá (200 km from Recife)	50	-
Nossa Senhora da Luz da Mata	-	320
Maranguape	70	100
Olinda	-	660
São Pedro Mártir	-	200
Recife	2,000	2,450
Várzea	600	260
Santo Antônio da Mata (50 km from Recife)	90	150
Muribeca	400	400
Jaboatão	314	350
Cabo de Santo Agostinho	650	700
Ipojuca	300	300
Indian village	840	-
Serinhaém	600	400
Una	200	200
Indian village	80	-
São Bento	-	120
Porto Calvo	370	255
Camaragibe	230	310
Subtotal	11,154	11,485
Strip II — Alagoas: 150 km between Alagoas and Penedo
Lagoa do Norte	212	200
Lagoa do Sul	307	540
São Miguel	150	180
Rio de São Francisco/Penedo	500	300
Subtotal	1,169	1,220
Strip III — Rio Grande do Norte
Goianinha	-	120
Rio Grande do Norte	300	400
Two villages	200	-
Two villages	50	-
Subtotal	550	520
Sertão
Rodelas	280	115
Ceará	-	80
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio de Piauí	-	160
Place among Piancó and Piranhas	-	-
Subtotal	280	355
Total	13,153	13,580

Source: Archivium Secretum Vaticanum/Congregazione del Concilio/Relationes diocesium 596 - fólios não numerados. Documents date from July 11, 1693 and from May 7, 1701, respectively; the latter also has an Italian version titled Visita che monsignore D.F. Francesco de Lima, vescovo Olinden[se] Pernambuccano nel[lo] stato del Brasile in Indiis Occidentalibus fà ad sacra limina apostolorum, e relatione que del d[ett]o suo vescovato da a nostro signore per l'avvocato Manuele Banha Quaresma, chierico e beneficiato eborense suo procuratore. Notes: 1) The number of hearths presented in 1693 for Recife (10,000) is an obvious error, and must refer to the number of inhabitants, which, in this case, is 2,000 hearths (instead of "dieci milla fuochi", "due milla fuochi"); moreover, it does not present figures for the parishes of Sé de Olinda and São Pedro Mártir. This error is also highlighted by Bruno Feitler, Nas malhas da consciência - Igreja e Inquisição no Brasil: Nordeste 1640-1750, São Paulo, Phoebus; Alameda, 2007, p. 47; 2) the parishes mentioned in the documents currently correspond to the following locations: 2.1) the city of Paraíba is currently João Pessoa; 2.2) in the parish of Goiana, the village of the uraitaigi Indians is included without mention to the number off ires, which today corresponds to the municipality of Alhandra; 2.3) Taquara: currently a district of the municipality of Pitimbu (PB); 2.4) Desterro: currently, the municipality of Itambé; 2.5) Tejucopapo: currently a district of the municipality of (PE); 2.6) Maranguape: currently a neighborhood in the city of Paulista (PE); 2.7) Várzea: currently a neighborhood in the city of Recife; 2.8) Nossa Senhora da Luz da Mata, currently a district of Matriz da Luz, in the municipality of São Lourenço da Mata, 15 km from the center of the eponymous city; 2.9) Muribeca: currently a neighborhood of the city of Jaboatão dos Guararapes; 2.10) in the document from 1693, the village of Araribá is named as "Ararota"; corresponds today to the municipality of Pesqueira (PE), at a distance of 200 km from Recife; 2.11) Una: according to José Cezar de Menezes (Idéa da população da capitania de Pernambuco: e das suas annexas ... desada o anno de 1774 em que tomou posse do governo das mesmas capitania, Rio de Janeiro: Officinas Graphicas da Bibliotheca Nacional, 1924, p. 48-49), "the mother church of Nossa Senhora da Purificação [patron saint named in 1693] and São Gonçalo [patron saint named in 1701]... and its population is situated in a mount they call São Gonçalo, neighboring the river of Una"; was situated on the left bank of the river and is now part of the city of Barreiros (PE); 2.12) Camaragibe: not to be confused with the eponymous municipality near Recife; 2.13) "Lagoa" in the document from 1693; "Alagoa" in the one from 1701. Alagoa do Norte: currently Maceió; Alagoa do Sul: currently a municipality of Marechal Floriano, both situated in Alagoas; the parish of Alagoa do Sul includes an Indian village with no indication to the number of hearths; 2.14) São Miguel: currently a municipality of São Miguel dos Campos (AL); 2.15) Rio de Piauí: parish of Nossa Senhora da Vitória, currently the municipality of Oeiras (PI); 3) "Rio de São Francisco" in the document from 1693; "Penedo", in the one from 1701; includes four Indian villages with no indication of the number of hearths; 4) the three last parishes in the table were instituted in the hinterlands because "multitudes of Christians living in the dilated hinterlands in many and large cattle corrals, which are the most profitable farms, to which, every year, crowds of men are going from the Kingdom of Portugal, where they do not have a good life, and in which they spent 8 to 10 years since they last attended a Mass or received the sacraments"; 5) Rio Grande do Sul: previously São Francisco das Chagas do Rio Grande do Sul, currently a municipality of Barra, in Bahia; the document from 1701 informs: "in these distant hinterlands if the aforesaid parish of Conceição da Rodela, 120 leagues farther into the woods to the west, a parish was established [...] with 130 residents in many other cattle corrals"; 6) about Ceará, the document from 1693 states that it was a "a captaincy and a fortress with a military prison, 600 miles distant from the city [Olinda]; the priests of the congregation of São Filipe Neri attend the parish [church], one of whom is responsible for the care of the souls, which are [in number] ... ", without mentioning the figure; the document from 1701 ("Ceará Grande") indicates that the mother church of Nossa Senhora da Assunção had 80 hearths of white residents and a significant number of Indians; coincides with the current municipality of Ceará; 7) the document from 1701 mentions the "place between Pinhanco [currently Piancó] and Piranhas", "150 leagues distant from the mother church of Paraíba, into the hinterlands", which is almost 1,000 km. However, the distance from São José de Piranhas and Piancó to João Pessoa does not exceed 500 km; 8) about Rio Grande do Norte, the document from 1701 states that: "desert scrublands inhabited by some white residents, who live on livestock, and innumerable heathens, some of them tamed, in missions, and mostly barbarians, who engage in their continual wars with whites".

	1637	1660	1662	1679	1684	1685	1693
Maranhão
São Luís	250	300–500	> 600	400	800	> 1,000	> 600
Tapuitapera	-	100	-	30	-	400	300
Itapecuru	-	-	100	300	-	-	-
Pará
Belém	80	150	400	-	150	500	400
Gurupá	-	30	-	-	-	-	-
Vigia	-	-	-	22	-	-	-
Caeté/Gurupi	-	60	120	18	-	-	-
Totais	330	340	1,220	770	950	1,900	1,300

Sources: Rafael Chambouleyron, Portuguese colonization of the Amazon region, 1640-1706, Tese de doutorado, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 2005, p. 65-68; Rafael Chambouleyron, "Escravos do Atlântico equatorial: tráfico negreiro para o Estado do Maranhão e Pará (século XVII e início do século XVIII)", Revista Brasileira de História, vol. 26, n. 52, 2006, p. 79-114. The referred sources are the following: for 1637: Bento Maciel Parente, "Relação do Estado do Maranhão: 4 de fevereiro de 1637", Anais da Biblioteca Nacional, vol. 26, 1904 (1905), p. 353-359 (total of "residents"); for the decade of 1660: Notícia do Estado... Biblioteca da Ajuda, códice 50-V-37, fl. 139-139v (total of "neighbors"; Cametá with "few"); for 1662: Maurício de Heriarte, "Descrição do Estado do Maranhão, Pará, Curupá e rio das Amazonas", In: Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, História Geral do Brasil, vol. 3, São Paulo, Melhoramentos, 1956, p. 211; 213; 217; 219; 221 (total of "residents" in São Luís and Curupi; for Belém, "neighbor residents"; Gurupá with "some" and Cametá with "few White residents"); for 1679: Simão e Sousa, Sobre o Maranhão e Pará e desordens dos ministros e oficiais que lá há, Biblioteca da Ajuda, Lisboa, 21 de outubro de 1679, códice 50-V-37, fls. 398-405, fl. 398 (total in "couples"); for 1684: João de Moura, a Portuguese colony that has three treaties: in the first, the State of Maranhão and its expansion has been described, 1684, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Reservados, códice 585, fl. 13v (total of "neighbors" in São Luís and of "hearths" in Belém); for 1685: Manuel Guedes Aranha, "Papel político sobre o Estado do Maranhão" [c.1685], Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, 1ª parte, tomo 46 (1883), p. 4; 7; 12 (total of "neighbors" in São Luís and of "residents" in Belém); for 1693: João de Souza Ferreira, "América abreviada, suas notícias e de seus naturais, e em particular do Maranhão, títulos, contendas e instruções à sua conservação e aumento mui úteis" [1693], Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, 1ª parte, tomo 57 (1894), p. 33; 37; 43 (total of "neighbors" for São Luís and Alcântara and of "residents" for Belém). In addition to these, there are two conflicting estimates for the population of the State of Maranhão in 1688: one of 5,000 or 6,000 "residents", and another of 2,000 "residents": Papel sobre ... Sociedade de Geografia e Lisboa, Res. 2-B-6; and João de Sousa Ferreira, "Noticiário Maranhense" [1688?], Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, vol. 81, 1917, p. 289-352; 344. Notes: 1) The source from 1637 further adds to the total of residents 60 soldiers living in São Luís, 50 in Belém, 30 soldiers at the fort in Ceará (where four or five residents would also live) and at the fort of Gurupá, less than 30 soldiers with no residents; 2) to the total number of neighbors in São Luís in 1685, a total of 150 soldiers were added, and, in Belém, "200 men who can take up arms".

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[TFN01] ^a
: total of hearths (or, as more commonly shown in the sources, "neighbors") composed of Portuguese residents;

[TFN02] ^b
: total of African slaves;

[TFN03] ^c
: total of Christian Indians.

[TFN05] Note: Harold Johnson gives a figure of 12,000 people for Pernambuco in 1585 and assigns six individuals to each hearth. Harold Johnson, "The Portuguese settlement of Brazil, 1500-1580", In: Leslie Bethell, Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, p. 279.