Martim Soares Moreno and the Continuation of Luso-Hispanic Imperial Conquest during the 17th Century

Despite the continued popularity of imperial history as a subject of scholarly research, the field remains largely confined to studies of the North Atlantic empires. Those who do venture south into the Luso-Hispanic imperial realm seem largely focused on either the contacts and conquests of the sixteenth century or the dissolution of empire during the nineteenth century. This paper aims to fill these lacunae by demonstrating the important and continued role of conquest in empire building under the Hapsburg’s in northeastern Brazil at the beginning of the seventeenth century with a particular focus on one conquistador: Martim Soares Moreno. Born in Portugal, and arriving in Brazil as a youth in 1602, Martim Soares Moreno would soon prove vital to the pacification of the Brazilian northeast. Having developed a proficiency in native languages he soon adopted native mores, both of which allowed him to succeed where previous conquistadores and missionaries had failed. Analyzing the career of Martim Soares Moreno not only uncovers the details of Luso-Hispanic expansion in an era otherwise overshadowed by a historiographical narrative of decline, it also further reveals the entangled nature of imperial history in the Atlantic sphere during the seventeenth century as he traveled to Santo Domingo, was imprisoned in France, and eventually made his way back to Portugal.