Contraband

Contraband is defined for the first time in the Diccionario de Autoridades (1729) as “contravention of something that is forbidden by proclamation, published by proclamation, in the places or places destined to make public what the Prince wants to be observed, or not to be executed”. To this general definition are added specifications on its …
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Cartography

The early modern European period was marked by important changes in the way of thinking about space and representing it in cartography. If during the medieval period the maps were linked to an idea of symbolic space, in early modernity there is a transformation in this conception. From geometry, space starts to be thought mathematically, …
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Customs tithes (Taxes)

Since the Middle Ages, it was foreseen in feudal relations that vassals had the obligation to provide material and military aid to the lord, thus constituting the first approximation to taxation in modern times (AIDAR,2020:446). The process is related to a structural change in Western society that involved the forms of political domination. The centralization …
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Brazilwood

Brazilwood, classified by botanists in the genus caesalpinia, was found in abundance in the easternmost part of the American continent (Varnhagen, 1877:1) by the Portuguese as soon as they arrived in 1500. This type of wood was not totally unknown to the Europeans since there was in the east the Caesalpinia sappam lam which had …
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New Christians

New Christians, descendants of Jews or Jews converted to Catholicism, played a prominent role in the colonization of the Americas, specifically in what would become Brazil. Despite the suffering generated by the dispersion at the end of the 15th century, due to the expulsion of Jews from Castile and Aragon (1492), followed by the expulsion …
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The Recovery of Bahía de Todos los Santos, 1635, Fray Juan Bautista Maíno.

An emblematic painting, a must-have illustration for any work dealing with the period known as the “Iberian Union”, the union of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, this painting by Maíno has accompanied dozens of books, conference posters and various events dealing with this period or, specifically, with Brazil’s inclusion in the Hispanic Monarchy. It …
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