The story in brief
Gold makes Minas the richest land in the empire, until it runs thin while the king’s quota doesn’t. Poets, priests and colonels plot a republic, and one of them tells. Only one man hangs: the penniless ensign who took the blame. A century later the Republic gives him a holiday and the face of a Christ.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
Gold Fever
Bandeirantes find gold in the streams, and the whole world runs to the Minas.
Sources: Antonil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil (1711)
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
The Fifth and the Derrama
The king wants a hundred arrobas of gold a year. Minas no longer has them.
Sources: Autos de Devassa; Kenneth Maxwell
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Conspiracy
They agreed on the flag, the capital and the password. They never agreed on who would keep the secret.
Sources: Autos de Devassa (1789); Virgil, Eclogues
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
The Sentence
Eleven condemned to the gallows. The queen had already decided to spare ten.
Sources: Autos de Devassa; Sentence of 18 April 1792
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Invented Hero
Brazil’s most famous face was drawn by people who never saw it.
Sources: Decree 155-B (1890); José Murilo de Carvalho
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- AleijadinhoSculptor · Architect · Son of Vila Rica
- Tomás Antônio GonzagaJudge · Poet · Marília’s Dirceu
- Joaquim Silvério dos ReisColonel · Tax Farmer · Informer
- Cláudio Manuel da CostaPoet · Lawyer · The Eldest of the Group
- Queen Maria IQueen of Portugal · The Pious · The Letter of Mercy
- TiradentesEnsign · Tooth-Puller · Martyr of the Republic
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Colony”. By the end of it, you can tell why Brazil is named after a tree, and where Tiradentes got a beard he never wore.
Stories in this journey
- Cabral: Land Ho
- Tiradentes: The Minas Conspiracy
Sources
- Autos de Devassa of the Inconfidência Mineira
- Sentence of the Alçada, 18 April 1792
- Antonil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil (1711)
- Decree 155-B, 14 January 1890
