Impressões rebeldes: uma análise da revolta escrava de Camamu de 1691

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze and understand the social upheavals that occurred in the village of Camamu, located in the then Captaincy of Ilhéus, during the year 1691. Camamu, a village built in front of a bay of the same name, was characterized by its significant production of cassava flour during the 17th century, as well as by the substantial number of enslaved people who inhabited the region. Being in a border region, Camamu was a frequent target of indigenous incursions and also a favorable location for the emergence of numerous quilombos. This context resulted in a local population consisting of enslaved individuals, mixed-race people, indigenous people, and white people. It was in 1691 that ethnic-racial tensions reached their zenith, deteriorating into an open rebellion of enslaved individuals and mixed-race people who chanted slogans like "Death to the whites, and long live freedom." The revolt was brutally suppressed by Portuguese authorities and was characterized as one of the largest uprisings of enslaved people in the Captaincy of Ilhéus in the 17th century.