SESMARIAS, OCCUPATION AND LAND CONFLICTS IN THE BACKLANDS OF COLONIAL MARANHÃO AND PIAUÍ (17th AND 18th CENTURY)

Abstract

Abstract: This article analyzes the concession of sesmarias and the land conflicts between sesmeiros and squatters that occurred in the eastern part of Maranhão and in Piauí from the end of the seventeenth century and that lasted until the end of the Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado government (1751-1759). This process represented a constant concern of the Portuguese Crown with the political and administrative control of occupation and settlement in the region. The actions and decisions of the Crown, governors and royal authorities - as ombudsmen and providers - had as their main objective the ordering of occupation and settlement, with several attempts to regulate these conflicts that involved indigenous peoples, residents, landlords and religious peoples in the region.

Keywords: Occupation. Sesmarias. Land conflicts.