birthplace of capoeira by some of the first scholars writing on capoeira,^33 and the Valongo quay,
infamous for its slave market, however seem to have been rather irrelevant for its practice during the first
half of the nineteenth century.^34
Some of the arrested capoeiras wore coloured ribbons, with a clear preference for yellow and red. The
colours yellow and red have been related to religious traditions of the Kongo/Angola region. They—and
slaves more generally—also liked to wear hats or caps, and in one instance, a feather.^35 The ribbons or some
of the headgear may have served to mark ethnic belonging. To what extent these attributes already indicate
affiliation to structured gangs is difficult to ascertain. Evidence regarding the social organization and the
formation of capoeira gangs prior to the 1840s is unfortunately scarce. One indication of social organization
among capoeiras at that stage is their use of whistling as reported by policemen. Capoeiras employed
whistles to call each other in moments of need, eventually also to mark territories, just as they climbed on
church towers to exhibit their acrobatic skills, ring the bells, attract the attention of the public and challenge
authorities.^36
Two events with the likely participation of capoeiras provide further indications about their early forms
of organization and involvement in local politics. In June 1828, the Irish and German mercenaries
contracted by the emperor rebelled over their conditions of treatment. They had been complaining for some
time about the lack of payment, bad food, forceful extension of their time of service and excessive physical
punishments. When a German soldier failed to salute a sergeant and was punished with 250 lashes, the
German mercenaries assembled, marched to the imperial palace and asked to see the emperor. Pedro I only
accepted to receive a commission of two soldiers and a full-fledged mutiny broke out on 9 June. German
and Irish soldiers started to loot pubs and shops; many got drunk and eventually started to fight against each
other. The slave owners—without any protection provided by the state—decided to arm their slaves to resist
the drunken German and Irish soldiers. Observers described the ferocity of the slaves in dealing with the
mutineers, avenging humiliations slaves had often been subjected to by foreign mercenaries. Although
never mentioned explicitly in the sources, it is likely that many slaves used capoeira techniques in this
confrontation.
After the crushing of the soldiers’ mutiny, many slaves and free blacks tried to keep their weapons,
forcing the Police Intendant to take further measures to confiscate arms in the city. Repression was therefore
soon directed against both groups, the European mercenaries and the capoeiras. The nationalist
historiography on capoeira uses these events as evidence that capoeiras were defending Brazilian national
interests.^37 Although the role of the capoeiras might have been important for the smashing of the mutiny, it
has to remain clear that their prime motivation was to grasp the opportunity to retaliate harassment by
European soldiers rather than to raise the Brazilian flag.^38
Anti-foreign, especially anti-Portuguese resentment was however important among the free lower classes
and erupted in the street movements and rebellions of 1831, when the Portuguese-born emperor was forced
to abdicate (7 April). Capoeiras certainly took advantage of these moments of breakdown of order. In July
of that year a police patrol surprised over 200 ‘blacks and mulattoes’ engaged in a battle among themselves
in the Catete suburb. The capoeiras immediately reacted, stopping their fight and starting to throw stones at
the patrol, which lead to the wounding of its commander. When the patrol charged against the capoeiras,
they divided into their respective factions and escaped into opposite directions.^39 This kind of episode
suggests that some form of organization already existed among capoeiras at the time, but we have to be
careful not to project our knowledge about gangs from later stages on this formative period.
Police records do not seem to allow further conclusions regarding capoeira gangs. Since the practice in
itself was considered ‘unacceptable’, requiring immediate ‘correction’ and subsequent punishments, officers
did not need to write detailed reports about arrested capoeiras. The police files indicate, furthermore, that
CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO 75