134 CHAPTER 6 COLONIAL BRAZIL
and blood. In the cattle-raising regions of the sertão
and the south, the small number of slaves, the self-
reliant character of the vaqueiro or gaucho, and
the greater freedom of movement of workers gave
society a somewhat more democratic tone. Every-
where, however, says the Brazilian historian Caio
Prado Júnior, “the existence of pronounced social
distinctions and the absolute and patriarchal dom-
ination of the owner and master were elements
invariably associated with all the colony’s large
landed estates.”
By contrast with the decisive importance of
the fazenda, most colonial towns were mere ap-
pendages of the countryside, dominated politi-
cally and socially by the rural magnates. Even in
the few large cities like Bahia and Rio de Janeiro,
the dominant social group was composed of fazen-
deirosand sugar-mill owners. These men often
left the supervision of their estates to majordomos
and overseers, preferring the pleasures and bustle
of the cities to the dreary routines of the country-
side. But in the city lived other social groups that
disputed or shared power with the great landown-
ers: high offi cials of the colonial administration;
dignitaries of the church; wealthy professional
men, especially lawyers; and the large merchants,
almost exclusively peninsulars, who monopolized
the export-import trade and fi nanced the industry
of the planters.
The social position of the merchant was not
very high, because of the medieval prejudice
against commerce brought over from Portugal (a
prejudice that did not prevent the highest offi cials
from engaging in trade, albeit discreetly), but noth-
ing barred the merchants from membership on the
municipal councils. The confl ict between native-
born landowners and European-born merchants,
aggravated by nationalistic resentment against up-
start immigrants, sometimes broke out into armed
struggle. An illustration is the petty War of the
Mascates (1710–1711) between Olinda, provin-
cial capital of Pernambuco, which was dominated
by the sugar planters, and its neighboring seaport
of Recife, which was controlled by the merchants.
This struggle between mazombos(Brazilian-
born whites) and reinóis (peninsulars) fore -
shadowed the later rise of a broader Brazilian
nationalism and the fi rst projects of Brazilian in-
dependence. In the late eighteenth century, Minas
Gerais, the most urbanized Brazilian region, had
the most diversifi ed economy. It became a seat of
much unrest as a result of offi cial efforts to rein-
force the area’s dependency on Portuguese export-
ers, collect large amounts of delinquent taxes, and
impose a new head tax. A conspiracy to revolt and
establish a republic on the North American model
was hatched in 1788–1789 by a group of dissi-
dents, most of whom were highly placed members
of the colonial elite. The only leading conspira-
tor who was not a member of the aristocracy was
José da Silva Xavier, a military offi cer of low rank
who practiced the part-time profession of “tooth-
puller,” whence the name of Tiradentes by which
he is known in Brazilian history. An enthusiast for
the American Revolution, Silva Xavier apparently
possessed copies of the Declaration of Independence
and American state constitutions. When the con-
spiracy was discovered, all the principal conspira-
tors were condemned to death, but the sentences
were commuted to exile for all but the plebeian
Silva Xavier. His barbarous execution, which he
faced with great courage, made him a martyr as
well as a precursor of Brazilian independence.Go online for additional
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