Colonial families in the Brazilian town of Santana de Parnaiba lived on the fringe of settlement in a vast and perilous continent. In her revealing community history, the author tells how these settlers pursued family strategies that adapted European custom to the American environment. Turning to recorded events such as marriages, baptisms and especially inheritances, she discovers that as the newcomers transformed the wilderness into a settled agricultural community, they laid the foundation for a class society of planters, peasants and slaves. With a description of family life at all three levels of society, the author shows how the families most successful in exploiting and controlling the resources of the wilderness gained wealth, power and social dominance. The author challenges accepted views by contending that not only external economic forces but also colonial family strategies paved the way for an inegalitarian society in Brazil. Her portrayal of frontier survival and coping, together with the heedless exploitation of wilderness resources, brings a historical perspective to the consideration of Brazil's last frontier, the Amazon.
- ISBN10 0520075749
- ISBN13 9780520075740
- Publish Date 23 March 1992
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 November 2006
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 312
- Language English