Em busca da liberdade: os escravos no sertão do rio Piranhas, 1700-1750.

Abstract

Slavery in the sertão of Paraíba state, more specifically at Ribeiras of Rio Piranhas and their influence areas, between 1700-1750 is the issue and main idea of this dissertation work. The relationship between landlords and slaves, their connections of interdependence and the possible tensions and/or arrangements is the focus of our work. To the development of the presented study the following questioning was uncovered: to what extent political power, emanated from colonial society, to the land nobles, sustained the ties of dependence between landlords and slaves within alto sertão of Paraíba state? How was this relationship validated? What possible tensions or, on the other side, arrangements were there between the social actors, and in what way their relations were permeated by those tensions and arrangements? Theoretical foundation of slavery social history was utilized, as well as the evidentiary method as a methodological basis. The historical documentation in which our written work is substantiated is divided into three categories: 1) eclesiasticals - baptismal registers; 2) notary's office archives - letters of attorney and manumission letters; and 3) judiciaries - inventories. Registers from Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Lisboa) were likewise used. Ultimately, we achieved slavery in the region of sertão, had a peculiar configuration and the resident slaves held their own strategies and ways of resistance to deal with slavery and the search for a possible freedom.