Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The modern Brazilian state of Amapá, derived from Contestado lands, probably
evokes no image at all. Its main exports today are manganese ore and the
Euterpe
palm
fruits (açai) that are processed into popular health products. Those interested in extract-
ive reserves and tropical conservation note that Amapá, like Acre and Amazonas, is one
ofAmazonia's“eco-states.” Itisalsothesiteofsomeofthemostwell-knownAmazoni-
an
quilombos
: Mazagão Velho and the very beautiful lake-based Curiaú. The history of
Contestado remains mostly a footnote, but even though today it may be seen as a hyper-
periphery, it was a political chit in European dynastic politics for hundreds of years,
and a significant part of the Amazon Scramble for several reasons. It was a large area;
it had resources, most especially gold and latexes. Its boundary politics were famously
confused, as was its ethnic makeup. It also marked an evolution in Rio Branco's dip-
lomacy: “informal colonialism” carried out by slaves fleeing Brazil could be construed
as a migration of “Brazilian citizens,” and there was direct use of prominent scientists in
the imperial practices on both sides. This adjudication also marked the use of US hemi-
spheric politics (the Monroe Doctrine) in Rio Branco's American public relations and
negotiations. These tactics would be deployed again in the Western Amazon. Just how
complex the region was is suggested by the convoluted diplomatic history and relent-
lessly shifting boundaries of a place that was essentially a no-man's-land. In this sense
too,theexperiencewasausefulpreparationforthediplomaticchallengesintheWestern
Amazon.
Sovereignty by Decree versus Boots on the Ground
The Amazon channel of the seventeenth century was a kind of immense free-for-all, a
terra nullius
opentoadventurersaswellasroyalcharters.Europeandecreeswouldgrant
sovereignty to various regions in the Amazon Caribbean with a pointed lack of concern
for (or ignorance of) competing claims. For the Portuguese, the central ambition was to
consolidate their hegemony, since in principle the Tordesillas Treaty gave them rights to
much ofthe Amazon estuary andcontrol ofthe gateway tothe vast interior,even though
the riverbanks were subject to persistent incursions and settlements by Ireland, England,
France, and Holland, none of which were parties to that pact.
In 1605, Henry IV proclaimed that French territories extended in a swath from the
OrinocototheAmazon(about1,000kilometers), inspiteofaprofusionofDutch,Span-
ish, Portuguese, and English settlements along the coast and interior watersheds. With
a French colony on the island of São Luis in Maranhão (475 kilometers to the south
of Belém), this decree was meant to place the coasts to the south and the north of the
Amazon estuary under the aegis of the French crown and thus gave control of a huge
territory as well as Amazon navigation to France. By 1613, Maranhão-based General
DanielLaRavadièreandbattalionsofTupinambaIndianssetouttomaterializethisedict
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