Conquest, grants and local power: colonial nobility ("nobreza da terra") in Portuguese America and Ancien Régime's political culture

Abstract

Considering Nuno Monteiro's essay, "Nobiliary 'Ethos' in the Dusk of the Ancien Régime: Symbolic Power, Empire and Social Imagery", and also the political culture of the Ancien Régime, this paper focuses on the formation of seignorial elites in Portuguese America. Taking into account that the conquest of the overseas' territories enlarged the prospects of acquiring revenue-earning commanderies and grants in exchange of services to the Crown, the author aims to debate the usefulness of the concept of colonial nobility (nobreza da terra) to define such elites. Thus, the formation of a colonial nobility in such territories - amongst a slave based society - would be the product of both practices and institutions guided by an ideal of conquest, a system of grants and the access to local power.