São Luís in Iberian Imperial Politics (1612–1654): from Conquest to Consolidation as the Capital of the State of Maranhão and Grão-Pará (Brazil)

Abstract

This article analyzes the process through which São Luís do Maranhão was constituted as a city within the framework of Iberian imperial politics in the North Atlantic, between the French foundation of Equinoctial France (1612) and the Portuguese restoration following Dutch domination (1654). The study addresses the following question: how did the premature attribution of city status to São Luís resulted from imperial politics formulated for the North Atlantic during the Iberian Union, profoundly shaping the local landscape and everyday life? The early granting of urban status did not derive solely from the city’s formal foundation, but rather from imperial strategies of defense, territorial domination, and the organization of urban networks in a space of frontiers and mediation between the Atlantic world and the Amazonian hinterland. Based on an articulated analysis of documentary and cartographic sources, as well as contemporary travel literature, the article examines transformations in São Luís’s urban and territorial landscape, from the Indigenous presence on the island of Upaon-Açu to its consolidation as the centerpiece of the State of Maranhão and Grão-Pará. It proposes an understanding of São Luís as an imperial frontier city, whose strategic function was associated both with territorial defense and with mediation among Atlantic circuits, Indigenous populations, and processes of inland expansion. Finally, it highlights the role of the municipal council as a central institution in articulating local dynamics with imperial directives, revealing the city’s integration into the political networks of the Portuguese pluricontinental monarchy.