Administration in Portuguese America

Pernambuco and São Vicente

Pernambuco and São Vicente prospered because of the planting of sugarcane and because they founded villages, donated sesmarias, and collaborated in the settlement and protection.

medieval canonical tradition

Medieval canonical tradition understood that the pope, God's representative on earth, holds universal jurisdiction over the lands.

sesmaria

The sesmaria was a mechanism to facilitate access to land.

secular laws

The formation of- secular- laws was opposed to medieval, often customary traditions.

Portugal

The institution of the hereditary captaincies inherited, with some specificities, the royal grant of lordship in in the Late Middle Ages.

Sesmeiro

Sesmeiro: former Portuguese magistrate elected to divide and distribute the sesmarias . }.

expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa

The Martim Afonso de Sousa patrolled the coast and even expelled the French from the colonial territory.

donatory captain

Each donatory captain assumed legal responsibility for the land.

However, -in the Modern Age

a series of social, political, economic, and mental transformations took place

The formation of -secular

laws was opposed to medieval, often customary traditions

Without sufficient financial and human capital, the metropolis guaranteed autonomy to the settlers as agents of exploitation

while the Crown, in most cases, was present collecting taxes and setting up the inspection device

Sesmaria

Sesmaria was an abandoned land belonging to Portugal and delivered for occupation

Sesmeiro

former Portuguese magistrate elected to divide and distribute the sesmarias.}

Of the twelve captains

Six never came to Brazil

The two prospered captaincies

Pernambuco and São Vicente