This paper analyses two important pieces of colonial legislation — the "Regimentos" of 1548 and 1686 — to emphasize the sociohistorical modern content of the colonial effort in Brazil. It is possible to identify a central effort in transforming indigenous peoples into a laborer population - whose legal aspect turns into an issue to metropolitan administration-, showing how the particulariy of colonial violence regards the expansion and sophistication of typical capitalist intitutions
Colonial Brazil; Social-economic Modernity; Brazil's Regimentos; Modern State; Colonial Administration