Indians and education in colonial world: Western border of South America

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991177

The experience of Portuguese colonization and its relationship with indigenous and possible educational activities through the first half of the eighteenth century reached different spatiality, including its western border, called Captaincy of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This study aims to historicize some aspects of dealing with the Indians, especially regarding the "educational" opportunities highlighted by the Portuguese Crown and its signatories, once indigenous territoriality that, with the passage of time and the Lusitanian actions, composed the domains of Transatlantic Portuguese Empire. The central aim is to present, through the records of Don Antonio Rolim de Moura, the first governor, aspects of indigenous education from the perspective of two-way street; at the same time, the policy tried to make them “docile”, making them workers to western ways, the surrounding society itself learned from the various ethnic groups which were the first "teachers" so to speak. If on one hand the captivity "educated" to work covertly, on the other hand sanctions or attempts to punish those who availed themselves of that labor were constantly applied. The religious influence regarding the topic is also noteworthy. It is considered the perspective of the coloniality of knowledge, with the exponent Immanuel Wallerstein and the world-system theory to embrace how Eurocentrism entered distinct spaces, including America. The survey data refer to the official published sources, which are also available in the collection of Indian Museum – Indian National Foundation in the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ).

Keywords: Indigenous people, History of Education, Captaincy of Mato Grosso.