Organização portuária da Ilha de Itamaracá entre os séculos XVI e XVII : articulações inter-regionais e internacionais

Abstract

The first purpose in this work is analyze the functional aspects relative to port organization in Itamaracá Island between XVI and XVII centuries. In this site it was two harbors in activity during that times, each one in a different entrance of Santa Cruz Channel, river that separated the island from the continent. In the south inlet was the Itamaracá inlet harbor, in the north portion the Catuama´s harbor, this one would be the most important harbor in the area. This work is divided in tree chapters, the first discusses about the Itamaracá Captaincy in a more broad context presenting significant informations for the considerable portuary activities in the area; The second chapter was intended to understand directly the dynamism of the sailing and seaworthiness in the island, listing and analyzing the most important harbors in Itamaracá and the connections between those and another harbors around the Portuguese kingdom and the functionalities of those connections. In the third chapter we seek to accomplish an overview about the militarization and the defense of the island related to the Island harbors protection, since every entrance in the inlet was guarded by fortifications. Our basic sources for this work are the relates of chroniclers and travelers who dedicate their work to describe the sites and the iconographies produced in the area during that time, Besides we use the documents of local administration, deposited in the AHU and APEJE mostly.