Os indígenas aldeados e a guerra na documentação administrativa da Companhia Holandesa das Índias Ocidentais no Brasil (1630-1647)

Abstract

In this article, we will discuss the role of the indigenous villagers as an auxiliary military force in the expansion and safeguarding of the territory conquered by the Dutch West India Company from Portuguese America in the 17th century. The underlying questions that led to this research are based on the concepts, theoretical discussions and methods characteristic of a Historical Domain that emerged in National Historiography in the last decades of the 20th century: the “New Indigenous History”. The work of this field has left an important reassessment of the impact of the actions of Amerindian individuals and groups on historical processes and events, in the light of reinterpretations of certain concepts, as well as from the criticism of previous historiographies. To carry out this proposal, we will essentially analyze Dutch administrative sources in order to identify the extent - quantitative and qualitative - of the military employment of indigenous villagers, their relationship with war activity during the period in question and the centrality of the colonial “aldeamento” system to the practices of Dutch and indigenous people in the face of war.