|
|
|
|
|
Minas Dos Matos GeraisMinas dos Matos Gerais is the original name of the current state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was part of the land occupied by the Bandeirantes, as most of the vice-kingdom of Brazil was, from the originally much smaller Terra de Vera Cruz and the even smaller Capitania de So Vicente. Actually the starting point of the conquest was the tiny village of So Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga. The village of So Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was settled as the altiplane correspondent to the one of So Vicente, Brazil, capital of the only successful Capitania of the South. Its inhabitants, called Paulistas were very poor and started explorations called Bandeiras in search of precious metals and stones, runaway slaves, and to make new Indian slaves. Those participating in the expeditions were the Bandeirantes, including allied Indians. The language then spoken was the Lngua Geral. While the Bandeiras were responsible for multiplying Portuguese territory in America, their greatest immediate success was in finding gold in a relatively nearby mountainous region, divided from the Capitania de So Vicente (current state of So Paulo) by a low, forested mountain range, called the Matos Gerais, or General Woods. The Bandeirantes didn't have the resources or even the numbers to settle the Mines of the General Woods, in Portuguese Minas dos Matos Gerais. Thus the mines were disputed by more numerous, better equipped recent settlers arriving expressly from Portuguese, nicknamed the Emboabas. The ensuing Emboabas' War ended with the defeat of the paulistas, the opening of a New Way to the Mines of the General Woods (Caminho Novo das Minas dos Matos Gerais) linking the capital of the new Minas Gerais province, the village of Vila Rica do Ouro Preto (Rich City of the Black Gold) to the port of So Sebastio do Rio de Janeiro at the Bay of Guanabara in the province of Rio de Janeiro. Many of the so-called Historical Towns of Minas Gerais, today monuments of Brazilian Baroque, lie in or around the Caminho Novo, for example Juiz de Fora.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|