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4. The War of the Oranges (1801) (pt. 2)
The notice of the war against Spain arrived in Brazil only in June, barely a month earlier than the decisive defeat of the Portuguese Army, and the military contingents in the southernmost province – the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande – were quickly mobilized against the Spanish settlements east of the Uruguay River, a group of seven towns originally founded by the Jesuits to catechize the local Amerindian peoples, and which became collectively known as Seven Povos das Missões [‘Seven Settlements of the Missions’] or, in Castilian language, as Misiones Orientales [‘Eastern Missions’].
The southernmost province of colonial Brazil was one of the most militarized regions of the whole country. Through the centuries, the colonists occupied and settled in this territory in various conflicts with the local Guarani tribes and their Jesuit allies, and now its expansive plains were dedicated to cattle herding. This last frontier became disputed in various conflicts in the 18th Century between the Luso-Brazilian inhabitants and the Hispanic colonists from the Viceroyalty of La Plata.
Even without military orders from the distant Portuguese Crown, the local settlers regularly waged wars to occupy the lands of the Spaniards, and their declared objective was fixing a “natural border” along the course of the Uruguay River.
Manuel dos Santos Pedroso and José Francisco Borges do Canto, two militia sergeants, with bands of about sixty Luso-Brazilian and hundreds of Guarani Indians, succeeded in taking the forts of São Martinho, São Miguel das Missões, and, in the next month, of São João, Santo Ângelo, São Lourenço, São Luís e São Nicolau, hamlets that by then had already been abandoned by the local population. The last settlement, São Borja, was inhabited by baptized Indians, who sworn loyalty to Portugal after imprisoning the local Spanish administrator.
In the very southern border region, Lt. José Antunes da Porciúncula conquered the strategic fortress of Chuí. This engagement saw the first military action of José de Abreu Mena Barreto, who was then Sergeant of a division of Dragoons responsible for patrolling the border, but would in the future become one of the most important military and political leaders of the First Brazilian Republic.
After this victory, the other small forts of the region were abandoned by the Spaniards and occupied by the Luso-Brazilian colonists without fight. This short conflict increased the territory of the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande in almost a third, and now its border was established in the Fort of Santa Tecla, and along the course of the River Quaraí.
Territorial Expansion of Brazil in the War of 1801
The Captaincy of Mato Grosso on the contemporary maps appeared as one of the largest territories of colonial Brazil, but, in reality, it was scarcely occupied by the Portuguese. The only roads to the deep interior (called Sertão [1]) were those that had been braved by the bandeirantes companies through the 17th Century.
The routes of exploration undertaken by the Bandeirantes, groups of armed adventurers in search of riches and specialized in enslaving Indians.
It was until now mostly inhabited by the aboriginal belonging to the Guarani-Kaiowá people, and there were isolated fortresses in the undefined border with the dominions of the Crown of Spain. After the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain finally abrogated the fictitious pretense established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in the 15th Century, and decided that the land in this vast and unknown frontier would belong to the nation that effectively settled the land (uti possidetis principle).
The strongholds of Coimbra [2], Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade and Miranda were built afterwards to secure the Portuguese presence in the hinterland. By 1801, however, they were undermanned with token garrisons.
For this reason, when the Spanish Governor of Paraguay received the news about the war between Portugal and Spain, he sent an expeditionary force to take what he imagined to be the weakest point in the border, the fort of Coimbra.
In 16 September 1801, the 40 soldiers and 60 civilians living inside the fort responded to the approach of a Hispanic expeditionary regiment by firing their cannons. Despite the numerical superiority, the Spanish force failed to besiege the fort, and was repelled in four occasions by the defensive artillery. In the next week, the Hispanic forces retreated, and the governor of the captaincy, D. Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro, prepared a counterattack. A small Portuguese force advanced along the valley of the River Mondego under Lt. Francisco Rodrigues Prado, and captured the Fort of São Jorge in the River Apa. This apparently insignificant conquest, led by a diminutive military contingent, would prove to be one of the most successful in the History of Brazil, as that river would be eventually adopted as the definite border between Brazil and Paraguay.
Owing to the defeat of the Kingdom of Portugal in the War of the Oranges, neither of the conquests of the colonists were officially recognized by the Kingdom of Spain in the Treaty of Évora (1801). In fact, as said previously, Spain and France accorded the partition of Brazilian territories, but they would never come to enforce the terms of the arrangement. The recent conquests of the Brazilian colonials, undertaken by very small irregular bands, would become permanent due to the occupation of the local citadels. They would only be officially regarded as constituent territories of Brazil after the recognition of independence. After the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the 1820s, none of the successor Hispano-American republics would make a serious effort to claim these territories.
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[1] “Sertão” is an archaic Portuguese word meaning “interior” or “hinterland” (in the relation to the littoral), but in the context of Colonial Brazil, became a synonymous of “terra nullius”, uncharted territories inhabited by pagan indigenous peoples and where the explorers believed to exist hidden cities of gold (similar to the Spanish legend of El Dorado).
[2] “Coimbra” is the old name of the modern city of Corumbá, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul/Brazil.
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Historical Notes: Much like the previous chapter, this one follows historical events, I haven't changed much, considering that Brazil really expanded in the War of 1801.
1. The Campaign in the Southern Frontier
The notice of the war against Spain arrived in Brazil only in June, barely a month earlier than the decisive defeat of the Portuguese Army, and the military contingents in the southernmost province – the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande – were quickly mobilized against the Spanish settlements east of the Uruguay River, a group of seven towns originally founded by the Jesuits to catechize the local Amerindian peoples, and which became collectively known as Seven Povos das Missões [‘Seven Settlements of the Missions’] or, in Castilian language, as Misiones Orientales [‘Eastern Missions’].
The Seven Settlements and their area of influence, contrasted with the modern borders of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) – in 1801 still called “Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande”.
The southernmost province of colonial Brazil was one of the most militarized regions of the whole country. Through the centuries, the colonists occupied and settled in this territory in various conflicts with the local Guarani tribes and their Jesuit allies, and now its expansive plains were dedicated to cattle herding. This last frontier became disputed in various conflicts in the 18th Century between the Luso-Brazilian inhabitants and the Hispanic colonists from the Viceroyalty of La Plata.
Even without military orders from the distant Portuguese Crown, the local settlers regularly waged wars to occupy the lands of the Spaniards, and their declared objective was fixing a “natural border” along the course of the Uruguay River.
Manuel dos Santos Pedroso and José Francisco Borges do Canto, two militia sergeants, with bands of about sixty Luso-Brazilian and hundreds of Guarani Indians, succeeded in taking the forts of São Martinho, São Miguel das Missões, and, in the next month, of São João, Santo Ângelo, São Lourenço, São Luís e São Nicolau, hamlets that by then had already been abandoned by the local population. The last settlement, São Borja, was inhabited by baptized Indians, who sworn loyalty to Portugal after imprisoning the local Spanish administrator.
In the very southern border region, Lt. José Antunes da Porciúncula conquered the strategic fortress of Chuí. This engagement saw the first military action of José de Abreu Mena Barreto, who was then Sergeant of a division of Dragoons responsible for patrolling the border, but would in the future become one of the most important military and political leaders of the First Brazilian Republic.
After this victory, the other small forts of the region were abandoned by the Spaniards and occupied by the Luso-Brazilian colonists without fight. This short conflict increased the territory of the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande in almost a third, and now its border was established in the Fort of Santa Tecla, and along the course of the River Quaraí.
Territorial Expansion of Brazil in the War of 1801
2. The Campaign in the Central Frontier
The Captaincy of Mato Grosso on the contemporary maps appeared as one of the largest territories of colonial Brazil, but, in reality, it was scarcely occupied by the Portuguese. The only roads to the deep interior (called Sertão [1]) were those that had been braved by the bandeirantes companies through the 17th Century.
The routes of exploration undertaken by the Bandeirantes, groups of armed adventurers in search of riches and specialized in enslaving Indians.
It was until now mostly inhabited by the aboriginal belonging to the Guarani-Kaiowá people, and there were isolated fortresses in the undefined border with the dominions of the Crown of Spain. After the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain finally abrogated the fictitious pretense established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in the 15th Century, and decided that the land in this vast and unknown frontier would belong to the nation that effectively settled the land (uti possidetis principle).
The strongholds of Coimbra [2], Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade and Miranda were built afterwards to secure the Portuguese presence in the hinterland. By 1801, however, they were undermanned with token garrisons.
For this reason, when the Spanish Governor of Paraguay received the news about the war between Portugal and Spain, he sent an expeditionary force to take what he imagined to be the weakest point in the border, the fort of Coimbra.
In 16 September 1801, the 40 soldiers and 60 civilians living inside the fort responded to the approach of a Hispanic expeditionary regiment by firing their cannons. Despite the numerical superiority, the Spanish force failed to besiege the fort, and was repelled in four occasions by the defensive artillery. In the next week, the Hispanic forces retreated, and the governor of the captaincy, D. Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro, prepared a counterattack. A small Portuguese force advanced along the valley of the River Mondego under Lt. Francisco Rodrigues Prado, and captured the Fort of São Jorge in the River Apa. This apparently insignificant conquest, led by a diminutive military contingent, would prove to be one of the most successful in the History of Brazil, as that river would be eventually adopted as the definite border between Brazil and Paraguay.
Owing to the defeat of the Kingdom of Portugal in the War of the Oranges, neither of the conquests of the colonists were officially recognized by the Kingdom of Spain in the Treaty of Évora (1801). In fact, as said previously, Spain and France accorded the partition of Brazilian territories, but they would never come to enforce the terms of the arrangement. The recent conquests of the Brazilian colonials, undertaken by very small irregular bands, would become permanent due to the occupation of the local citadels. They would only be officially regarded as constituent territories of Brazil after the recognition of independence. After the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the 1820s, none of the successor Hispano-American republics would make a serious effort to claim these territories.
_________________________________
[1] “Sertão” is an archaic Portuguese word meaning “interior” or “hinterland” (in the relation to the littoral), but in the context of Colonial Brazil, became a synonymous of “terra nullius”, uncharted territories inhabited by pagan indigenous peoples and where the explorers believed to exist hidden cities of gold (similar to the Spanish legend of El Dorado).
[2] “Coimbra” is the old name of the modern city of Corumbá, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul/Brazil.
_____________________________________________________
Historical Notes: Much like the previous chapter, this one follows historical events, I haven't changed much, considering that Brazil really expanded in the War of 1801.
- Rdffigueira
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