Indians land x white man’s land: indigenous presence and land appropriation in Guarulhos,16th -18th centuries.

Abstract

The paper discusses the transformation of Guarulhos’ territory and society, by analyzing the process of land appropriation of the original settlement, for the trajectory of land appropriation in Guarulhos is also the story of the process of land confiscation of the Our Lady of Conception settlement, factor and a consequence of the progressive reduction of the indigenous population. The analyzed documentary sources – the “Land Records of the São Paulo Province” series, produced in compliance with Law n. 601 of March 18, 1850, and the First Book of aforamentos (fueros) of Guarulhos. These, along with the analysis of the legislation, allowed for the process of land appropriation by the guarulhense elite to be traced as a result of the progressive confiscation of the old settlement lands throughout the nineteenth century.