The conquest of Maranhão and Grão-Pará in Iberian politics

Abstract

This text refers to the conquest of the extreme north as a prime factor of Iberian politics in the equatorial Atlantic for the maintenance of Portuguese sovereignty in America. It discusses the role of Gaspar de Sousa, Governor-General of Brazil, in securing the Portuguese project of territorial sovereignty. Finally it analyzes the installation ceremony of the São Luís fort to ponder on the symbolical mechanisms in the colonial domination legitimacy.