The Categories of Bondage: Indian Women in the Conquest of 16th-Century São Vicente, Brazil

During the first decades of contact with the indigenous populations of the current Brazilian coast, the Portuguese joined local groups through their relationships with native women. Usually seen by historiography as sexual and intimate, these relationships reached many other dimensions and were fundamental to the making of colonial society in the mid-sixteenth century. Through the Indian women, the conquerors established political ties with the caciques, and gained access to some wealth, mainly in the form of food surplus and labor force. The literature has failed to analyze the connections between these relationships with native women and changes to the status of captives. At that time, the demand for slaves was increasing, and that demand was fulfilled by the Indian wars. The conquerors influenced native groups and led them to capture more people to be sold as slaves.

In that context, the sources mentioned the native women in many roles, but they did it in a confusing way, with various terms such as “blacks,” “maids,” “slaves,” “forras,” “girls,” or “Indians.” Definitions could be adjusted depending on the situation. The conquerors often managed to change the status of the women according to their purposes. Despite being important for diplomatic and political connections with the native people, as the colonial society was strictly connected to slavery, the Indian women were increasingly classified as bonded labor, in a convenient confusion that merged former allies with war captives. Based on the dynamics of the use of these terms, this paper analyzes the characteristics of the presence of native women in the formation of the Brazilian colonial society with emphasis on the captaincy of São Vicente, demonstrating the connections between gender and different forms of servitude.