Herald Português

Brazil Divided · 5 chapters · 25 min

Emboabas: The War for Gold

1693 to 1720The gold mines of the Minas (today Minas Gerais), São Paulo and the roads from Rio and Bahia; later Cuiabá and Goiás

The story in brief

Paulistas find gold in the streams of the Minas, and thousands of outsiders follow. A musket, an order nailed to a church door and a grove called Traitor’s Grove lead to war. Nobody there was a mineiro or a paulista as we mean it today: in the end, the gold went to the king.

The chapters

  1. Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free

    Gold in the Gravel

    Some call it a war between Minas and São Paulo. In 1708, neither of them existed.

    Sources: André João Antonil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil por suas drogas e minas (Lisbon, 1711), part III; C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962), chapters 2 and 3; Father Antônio Vieira, Voto sobre as dúvidas dos moradores de São Paulo (1694)

  2. Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free

    Paulistas and Outsiders

    A quarrel over a musket, an order nailed to a church door and a man who will not leave.

    Sources: C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962), chapter 3; André João Antonil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil (1711), part III, chapter V; Adriana Romeiro, Paulistas e emboabas no coração das Minas (2008)

  3. Chapter 3 · 5 min

    Traitor’s Grove

    The paulistas hand over their weapons in exchange for their lives. The place gets a name: Traitor’s Grove.

    Sources: Sebastião da Rocha Pita, História da América portuguesa (1730), book IX; C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962), chapter 3; Adriana Romeiro, “Guerra dos Emboabas: balanço histórico”, Revista do Arquivo Público Mineiro (2009)

  4. Chapter 4 · 5 min

    The Crown

    One governor is stopped on the road. The next arrives with twelve men, and is obeyed.

    Sources: Royal letter of 9 November 1709 (Documentos interessantes para a história e costumes de São Paulo, vol. 47); C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962), chapter 3; Arthur Virmond Supplicy de Lacerda, “A capitania de São Paulo através dos tempos”

  5. Chapter 5 · 5 min

    The Map It Left

    Without the mines, the paulistas head west. And Brazil goes with them.

    Sources: Decree of 2 December 1720 and the opinion of the Overseas Council (Documentos interessantes para a história e costumes de São Paulo, vols. 47 and 53); C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962), chapters 7 and 10; IBGE, histories of the municipalities of Cuiabá and Goiás

Who’s who

The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.

  • Manuel de Borba GatoThe gold of the Rio das Velhas · Superintendent of the mines · The statue in Santo Amaro
  • Manuel Nunes VianaThe outsiders’ governor · Viana do Castelo · The São Francisco river
  • The MinersEnslaved Africans · The pan and the stream · Over a hundred thousand in 1738
  • Antônio de Albuquerque Coelho de CarvalhoThe governor who ended the war · Maranhão · São Paulo and Minas do Ouro
  • Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, the AnhangueraThe road to Goiás · The expedition of 1722 · Vila Boa
  • Dom João VThe gold king · The royal letter of 1709 · The decree of 1720

What you’ll be able to tell

This story belongs to the journey “Gold and Borders”. By the end of it, you can tell how a war over gold pushed Brazil west, and why Paraguay still asks for a cannon back.

Sources

  • André João Antonil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil (Lisbon, 1711)
  • Sebastião da Rocha Pita, História da América portuguesa (1730)
  • Royal letter of 9 November 1709
  • Decree of 2 December 1720
  • C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil (1962)
  • Adriana Romeiro, Paulistas e emboabas no coração das Minas (2008)

Brazil Divided: every story