Brazil

The captain-general was a military man who acted as head of the captaincy. He was a provincial governor whose duties were primarily military and defensive in nature as the supreme commander of all the armed forces in his captaincy. He was also the chief administrative officer responsible for exercising absolute power and administering the king's justice in his domain. As a colonial governor, the captain-general embodied the king and royal authority. After 1720 the captain-general of Bahia was elevated to the office of viceroy, and after 1763 so, too, was the captain-general of Rio de Janeiro. Although the captain-general could be a dictator by local standards, his power was curtailed by royal authorities overseas and the local town councils. The geographic vastness of Brazil also limited the governor's power. The governors meddled in municipal affairs by controlling nominations to governmental office and extending the terms of office of local officials. The captains-general could also initiate public works. The earliest captains-general had to subjugate and pacify the Indians, Christianize them, build forts and towns, introduce agriculture and commerce, and make the new colonies self-sufficient. Soldiers of fortune and daring military men like Tomé de Sousa and Martim Afonso de Sousa made effective captains-general, because they were able administrators and courageous commanders.

See alsoMilitias: Colonial Brazil .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey W. Diffie, A History of Colonial Brazil, 1500–1792 (1987).

Additional Bibliography

Puntoni, Pedro. A guerra dos bárbaros: Povos indígenas e a colonização do sertão nordeste do Brasil, 1650–1720. São Paulo, SP, Brazil: FAPESP, 2000.

                                          Patricia Mulvey