Bringing justice and the cross to the hinterlands: the occupation movements in the hinterlands of Rio Grande and the formation of the parish of N. Sra. da Conceição do Bom Sucesso do Rio Pardo in the second half of the 18th century

ABSTRACT

In the process of occupying the hinterland of Portuguese America, the hinterlands of Rio Grande - located between the Captaincies of São Paulo and Minas Gerais and bounded by the watercourse that lends its name - were being redefined, during the 18th century, as a space of disputes between the civil and ecclesiastical governments of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás. This study aims at showing the process of constituting the urban network in the disputed territory, where the urban centers founded on the interstices of the captaincies were also instruments for consolidating the territory and the Portuguese geopolitical interests as opposed to the Spanish interests. The urban network in this territory presents singular characteristics, marked by the presence of quilombos, by the mechanisms of gold taxation and the control of trails by the customs barriers, by the strong presence of the Catholic Church as an instrument of occupation of the hinterlands, by the erection of chapels and the foundation of parishes. In this context, we highlight some actions to assert the possession of this territory in São Paulo and the foundation of the parish of N. Sra. da Conceição do Bom Sucesso in Rio Pardo (1775) as an important event in the border disputes and in the settlement of these hinterlands. Methodologically, this study is classified within the disciplinary field of the History of Urbanization and works with a variation of geographic scales. Primary sources include historical cartography and letters from civil and ecclesiastical governments.

KEYWORDS:
Urban network; Bishoprics; Rio Grande hinterland; Rio Pardo hinterland; Parish of N. Sra. da Conceição do Bom Sucesso do Rio Pardo