A Vila de Icatu na política colonizadora da capitania do Maranhão (1686-1761)

Abstract

The vast dominance and constant investments of Portugal during the colonization of Brazil lead us to realize the apparent lack of an analysis of each effort and its due ends in the Portuguese colonization policy; This is the case of the village of Icatu as an agent of territorial expansion in Maranhão. This paper aims to highlight the history of Icatu in the process of settlement in the royal captaincies, acquiring a fundamental role for the expansion and security of Portuguese domains in Maranhão lands; Thus, the relationship between the central, regional and local power, as well as the economic activities involved and their results, is studied in order to better understand the particularities of Icatu Village and its colonization process. Through documentation collected from the Overseas Historical Archive, it is possible to understand the desires and the relationship between the colonists and Portugal, a research not so deep, but necessary, since much of the documents of the colonial period on Icatu were lost in a fire in the local registry office. And that dialogues with bibliographical productions including as main the work of an icatuense historian. As a result it can be seen that the change of location of this village and its amplitude during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries demonstrate its influence and particularities in the politics of colonization of the Eastern Amazon.