ABSTRACT
This article casts new light on indigenous work in Brazil’s Second Empire in the wake of the Indigenous legislation of 1845 (Regulation on the Missions of Catechesis and Indigenous Civilization) and the Land Law of 1850. Contrary to the widespread belief in the nineteenth century that Indians did not lend themselves to work, these populations’ labor weighed upon the most varied economic branches: agriculture, cattle raising, extractive activities, domestic services, opening of roads, public works, and navigation services. Indians served as guides, soldiers, sailors, and servants, among many other roles. Yet, their co-optation did not always occur in compliance with legal criteria, which led to these populations’ subjection to slavery and other forms of coercion. This was a fact known by the authorities of the period, but also by the Empire’s different indigenous groups, who negotiated and sought to impose, as far as possible, their own conditions for labor relations.
Keywords:
work; illegal enslavement; indigenous enslavement