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Central African Identities and Religiosity in Colonial Minas Gerais 2012 Kalle Kananoja Central African Identities and Religiosity in Colonial Minas and Religiosity Identities African in Colonial Gerais Central Kalle Kananoja Central African Identities and Religiosity in Colonial Minas Gerais 2012 Åbo Akademi University | ISBN 978-952-93-0489-9 Central African Identities and Religiosity in Colonial Minas Gerais Kalle Kananoja Åbo Akademi University / 2012 © Kalle Kananoja Author’s address: Department of History Åbo Akademi University Fabriksgatan 2 FI-20500 Åbo Finland e-mail: [email protected] ISBN 978-952-93-0489-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-93-0490-5 (PDF) Printed by Uniprint, Turku Table of Contents Maps ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� i Acknowledgments ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������iii 1 Introduction ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 1.1 Main Issues and Aims of the Study ....................................................... 1 1.2 Overview of the Literature �������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 1.2.1 The Slave Trade between Angola and Brazil and its Cultural Implications ......................................................... 4 1.2.2 Africans and Their Descendants in Mineiro Society ..................... 8 1.3 African Identities in Colonial Brazil.....................................................11 1.4 Creolization and Syncretism in the Southern Atlantic ..........................17 1.5 Sources and Methodology ....................................................................22 1.6 Outline of the Chapters �������������������������������������������������������������������������29 2 Central Africans and the Atlantic Slave Trade to Brazil ������������������������32 2.1 Measuring the Slave Trade to Brazil in the Eighteenth Century ..........32 2.2 Land and Economy in Central Africa ...................................................38 2.3 Central African Social and Political Systems .......................................43 2.4 The Development of Atlantic Creole Culture .......................................46 2.5 Organization of the Slave Trade in West Central Africa ......................50 2.6 Processes of Enslavement .....................................................................59 2.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................63 3 Angola vs� Mina: The Origins of African Slaves in Minas Gerais �������� 64 3.1 General Trends in the Growth of the Slave Population ������������������������ 64 3.2 Origins of African Slaves in Minas Gerais ...........................................73 3.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................85 4 Central African Identities in Minas Gerais ����������������������������������������������87 4.1 Identities: Lost, Retained, Transformed? ..............................................88 4.2 Angola ..................................................................................................91 4.2.1 The Meanings of Angola ...............................................................91 4.2.2 Angolas in Minas Gerais ..............................................................98 4.3 Congo .................................................................................................103 4.4 Benguela ............................................................................................. 110 4.5 Other Central African Origins/”Nations” ........................................... 115 4.6 Stereotypes .........................................................................................124 4.7 Conclusion ..........................................................................................131 5 Honoring Ancestors and Eating Salt: The Meeting between Traditional Religious Life and the Catholic Church �����������������������������������������������������133 5.1 Basic Elements of Central African Religious Life ..............................135 5.2 The Impact of Catholicism in the Kingdom of Kongo ........................144 5.2.1 Early Development ......................................................................144 5.2.2 The Shaping of Religious Identities ............................................147 5.2.3 Religious Reinterpretations ........................................................150 5.2.4 Eighteenth-Century Development...............................................154 5.3 Christianity and Indigenous Beliefs in Portuguese Angola ................ 161 5.3.1 Conversion in Angola to 1700 ����������������������������������������������������� 161 5.3.2 Impediments to the Spread of Catholicism .................................165 5.3.3 Orthopraxy and Syncretism in Angola .......................................169 5.3.4 Catholic Lay Brotherhoods in Angola ......................................... 175 5.4 Catholic Church and Africans in Minas Gerais ..................................177 5.4.1 Church and the Lay Brotherhoods in Mineiro Society ................177 5.4.2 Slave Membership in the Rosary Brotherhoods ..........................180 5.4.3 The Public Face of Black Brotherhoods ......................................187 5.4.4 Religious Identities of Africans ..................................................190 5.5 Conclusion ..........................................................................................196 6 Herbs, Roots, and Calundus: Central African Healing and Divination Practices in Minas Gerais ���������������������������������������������������������������������������197 6.1 Healing and Divination in Central Africa ...........................................199 6.1.1 The Prevalence of Healing Practices in Angola and Kongo ........199 6.1.2 Explanations and Cures of Illness ...............................................203 6.1.3 Portuguese Alternatives to African Healing Practices ................209 6.2 Central African Healing Arts in Colonial Minas Gerais .................... 216 6.2.1 African Spirit Possession, Healing and Magic in Minas Gerais �219 6.2.2 The Arsenal of Remedies ...........................................................226 6.2.3 Clientele ......................................................................................235 6.3 Divination ...........................................................................................243 6.4 Conclusion ..........................................................................................249 7 Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������251 Identities ...................................................................................................252 Creolization and the Religious Universe in the Southern Atlantic ...........256 Appendix: Tables �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������260 Swedish Summary – Sammanfattning �������������������������������������������������������267 Sources ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������274 i Maps Malebo Pool Cabinda São Salvador Soyo Kingdom of Kongo Mutemo Matamba Luanda Bengo Ambaca Massangano Ndongo Muxima Atlantic Cambambe Kasanje Ocean Benguela Caconda Map 1: West Central Africa in the eighteenth century ii Salvador Paracatú Minas Novas Tejuco Atlantic Pitangui Sabará Ocean Caeté Ouro Preto S. José del Rei Mariana S. João del Rei Barbacena São Paulo Rio de Janeiro Map 2: Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century iii Acknowledgments This study would not have been possible without the support of numerous people and institutions. I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to my advisor, Professor Holger Weiss, who initiated me into African history, guided my path through my undergraduate years at the University of Helsinki and encouraged me to take up doctoral studies at Åbo Akademi University. I have counted on his wisdom and scholarly advice on numerous occasions during the research process. In Minas Gerais, I received the unfaltering support of Associate Professor Eduardo França Paiva, who invited me to participate in a research seminar at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais during my first trip to Brazil in 2008. He advised me about sources in mineiro archives and took time from his busy schedule to discuss my research. I also thank him for the opportunity to present my work at UFMG during my second trip in 2010. I was extremely fortunate to have Professor John Thornton and Associate Professor José Curto as my preliminary examiners. Both have been generous with their comments and have offered important advice on primary sources and research literature. I am grateful for their critical remarks, which helped me to look at my sources from different angles. Needless to say, all errors that remain are my responsibility. Several chapters of my manuscript were discussed at the research seminar of the History department at Åbo Akademi University, directed by Professors Weiss and Nils-Erik Villstrand. I want to thank collectively all participants who commented on my texts. Parts of this work were presented at the special seminar on Global History and the Atlantic World and I wish to thank Laura Hollsten, Joachim Mickwitz, Anders Ahlbäck, Stefan Norrgård, Anna Sundelin and Victor Wilson for their feedback. In Finland, I have received further advice and collegial support
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