Indígenas Enxu na Serra do Araripe: territorialização e aldeamento (séc. XVII-XVIII)

Abstract

This dissertation examines the processes of territorialization and the establishment of Indigenous mission settlements (aldeamentos) in the Araripe Highlands, a borderland region shared by the present-day states of Pernambuco, Ceará, and Piauí, from the late seventeenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on the trajectory of the Ançu/Enxu Indigenous people. The study aims to understand how these groups were incorporated into the dynamics of Portuguese colonial expansion in the Northern Captaincies, especially through their movements between the São Francisco River and the Araripe Highlands, their experiences within mission settlements, and the relationships they established with missionaries, colonial authorities, and settler families. Situated within the context of the War of the Barbarians (1687–1720), the research examines the transformations brought about by colonial expansion into Indigenous territories, considering the aldeamentos as spaces of reorganization, negotiation, and colonial control. Particular attention is given to the missionary activities of Bernardo de Nantes and Apolinário de Brescia, the organization of Pernambuco’s peripheral mission settlements, the intervention of the Mesa da Consciência e Ordens based on documentation from 1739, and the territorial expansion initially promoted by the Garcia d’Ávila family of the Casa da Torre of Bahia and later by the Alencarino clan. To develop this analysis, the study draws on a range of colonial sources, including the Informação Geral da Capitania de Pernambuco (1749), as well as records produced in later periods, such as the accounts of the naturalist Freire Alemão (1859–1861) and works of regional memorial literature. By cross-referencing these sources, the research demonstrates that the Enxu presence in the Araripe Highlands was not limited to an isolated episode but formed part of a broader network of relationships involving different Indigenous peoples, missionaries, colonial authorities, and territorial settler groups. The dissertation thus highlights the Araripe Highlands as a relational space shaped by mobility, conflict, and negotiation.