Canibalismo e a legitimidade da guerra justa na época da independência

Abstract

In the early nineteenth century, state efforts to conquer independent indigenous peoples focused on the Atlantic forest connecting eastern Minas Gerais to the coast. This article credits natives with restraining the most violent tendencies of this project after the Portuguese Crown declared war against them in 1808. Accused of cannibalism, the Botocudo Indians, among others, faced extermination. After several years, however, the crown shifted to a policy of fostering material exchange with these hunters and gatherers. This reversal was a response to the native capacity to forestall conquest through an effective combination of counterattacks, retreat, and, above all, strategic engagement with colonial intruders in ways that diffused conflict. Convincing some officials of their humanity, the Indians undermined the crown's war policy even as they faced another threat to their survival, mounting private violence.