As trilhas vermelhas do descaminho : o contrabando de pau-brasil em Pernambuco c.1780 - c.1795

Abstract

Antônio Vicente and João Batista da Silva, two unrelated individuals who at different times committed the same crime, the illegal trade in Brazilwood from the northern captaincies. During most of the 18th century, the trade in Brazilwood from Pernambuco – which was the target of smugglers – was the exclusive preserve of a British company that had a contract for the consumption of that wood. With the Portuguese Crown's monopoly on the exploitation of Brazilwood established since the beginning of colonization due to the potential profit it presented, to cut costs and prevent embezzlement, the Portuguese government established the leasing of this wood. In which both extraction and trade in Europe were governed by contracts, meaning that practices carried out outside of these contracts constituted contraband. In this work we will study what historiography says about what smuggling was in Brazil in the colonial period, and through documents from the 18th century on the crimes of Antônio Vicente and João Batista da Silva, we will seek to understand the functioning of the networks and the socioeconomic role developed for such practice.