Anti-Jesuitism in the Portuguese Amazon (First Half of the Eighteenth Century)

Research about colonial Portuguese Amazon usually elaborates periods of agitations in that region, such as the action of priest Antonio Vieira in the seventeenth century or the pombalino period in the second half of eighteenth century. This research brings part of Maranhao and Grao-Para's neglected history, apparently, because it does not fall in the period of large agitations: the first half of eighteenth century. In our analysis, the performance of an agent with peculiar ideas stood out, that we understood as a kind of conflicting government project in important points with the project conceived for the region by the Portuguese Crown. This agent is Paulo da Silva Nunes, a strong enemy of the Society of Jesus, who participated in the colony and later in the Court, carrying out harsh campaigns against Jesuits in the region and against the laws, which to him only favoured the priests. Therefore, he declared himself the prosecutor of the people of Maranhao and Grao-Para, and transformed his anti-Jesuit campaign into a political, social and economic project for the region.