THE Beckman Revolt was a revolt organized by the good men of St. Louis, on account of their dissatisfaction with measures taken by the Crown on issues related to local commerce and the treatment of indigenous peoples. It began in 1684 and lasted until 1685, when a Portuguese squadron managed to re-establish Portuguese rule over the city of Maranhão. Those involved in the movement were punished in different ways.
Accessalso: Malês Revolt – the biggest revolt of African slaves in the history of Brazil
Background to the Beckman Uprising
The Beckman Revolt took place in Maranhão, a state created by the Spanish, in 1621. The order came from the king who occupied the Spanish and Portuguese thrones in the times of Iberian Union, King Philip II of Spain, resulting in the creation of the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, with the objective of putting an end to the foreign invasions that happened in the region.
In the 1630s, the region was conquered by Dutchmen, but after they were expelled, the local economy began to suffer from supply problems, as the local economy was very simple. The reconquest carried out by the Portuguese meant that the place came to be called
State of Maranhão and Grão-Pará, from 1654. This province incorporated territories that ranged from Ceará to the state of Amazonas.What sustained the local economy were the activitiesinsubsistence linked to agriculture and extractivism. In agriculture, mainly cotton was produced, but there were also cocoa and tobacco production, for example. A few ventured into the sugar production. In extractivism, the backcountry drugs, which resulted in the extraction of items such as cinnamon.
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These activities brought a very small financial return, therefore, the economy of Maranhão was not very developed. Therefore, the inhabitants of this province were unable to buy large numbers of african slaves. In any case, the second half of the 17th century witnessed the arrival of the first African slaves in the region, the result of disagreements between settlers and Jesuits. These conflicts were due to the action of the Jesuits in “protecting” the natives from the enslavement carried out by the colonists. The Jesuits sought to control the treatment of the natives in order to catechize them and exploit them in their missions.
The first record of the entry of Africans into Maranhão and Grão-Pará is from March 1662 and, from the 1680s onwards, this entry would be under the responsibility of the Maranhão Trade Company, created in 1682, mainly to regulate and organize the entry of African slaves in the region.
This company promised to deliver at least 500 slaves a year in Maranhão, but it never managed to fulfill its promise. This company was also assigned the trade monopoly in Maranhão. This was a regal determination, therefore, it came from a royal order.
The Companhia de Comercio do Maranhão was the only one authorized to buy the goods produced by the locals and it was responsible for selling the goods purchased. Other items related to the supply of Maranhão were also brought and sold exclusively by the company. This monopoly was called stanchion.
readmore: General Government – the centralizing structure implemented by Portugal in the 1540s
Causes of Beckman's Uprising
The direct reason that explains the beginning of the Beckman Revolt was the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of São Luís with the colonial administration. The causes of the settlers' dissatisfaction were related to the issue of the enslavement of the indigenous people and the commercial monopoly carried out by the Companhia de Comercio do Maranhão, mainly.
On the issue of enslaving the indigenous people, the dissatisfaction was due to the fact that the members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, were taking a stand against the settlers, preventing them from enslaving the indigenous people. The action of the Jesuits made the regent of Portugal d. Pedro, king of Portugal, from 1683 and known as d. Pedro II (not to be confused with d. Pedro II of Brazil), authorizes, in 1680, a law that prevented the enslavement of natives in the State of Maranhão.
With this law, the treatment and control of the indigenous people were exclusively in the hands of the Jesuits, who kept them in their missions, teaching them Portuguese culture and Catholicism. This irritated the settlers, because the African slaves promised by the Companhia de Comercio do Maranhão were not delivered and there were only conditions to enslave the indigenous people.
In the economic question, the stagnation harmed the commercial interests of the colonists. In addition, there were reports of favoritism from third parties by the Companhia de Comércio do Maranhão; other complaints said that the company paid very low values for the goods brought by the locals and supplied São Luís with low quality products.
The rivalry between São Luís and Belém also had repercussions for the beginning of the Beckman Revolt. The inhabitants of the city of Maranhão felt harmed by the fact that the governor of the province, Francisco de Sá e Menezes, preferred to live in Belém. From a popular point of view, the misery, in which a part of the population was forced to live, also served as a motivation for the revolt.
Main events of the Beckman Revolt
All these factors led some inhabitants to conspire against colonial authority. Among the conspirators were good men, common citizens and even clerics (they were not Jesuits). Among the main articulators of the revolt against colonial administration, were the brothers Manuel and Tomás Beckman, whose surname was used to name the revolt,
Manuel owned a mill and was one of the great leaders of the Beckman Revolt. Tomás was a lawyer and played a secondary role in the development of the movement. Manuel was one of those responsible for convincing other inhabitants of São Luís to rebel against the local administration.
The revolt in São Luís started on the day February 24, 1684, exactly the date when a religious procession took place in the city. The rebellious citizens surrendered the guards who took over the Casa de Estanco to then control strategic locations in the city. The Captain General of Maranhão, Balthasar Fernandes, was arrested during the revolt.
With the city of São Luís taken, the rebels formed a government called the General Board of Government and handed it over to the command of Tomás Beckman, João de Sousa de Castro and Manuel Coutinho. The new government of São Luís took some measures such as the deposition of the Captain General, the expulsion of the Jesuits and the abolition of the Casa de Estanco.
The government formed was composed of representatives of different groups present in São Luís: good men, common citizens and clerics. Movement leaders tried to take him to other parts of the province, but they could not get support. For more than a year, the government of the capital of Maranhão was under the command of the rebels.
There are reports that, little by little, the command of the Beckman Revolt was weakening, very by Manuel Beckman, owner of a personality understood by some of his colleagues as parent company.
Accessalso: Slavery in Brazil: all about slave labor in Brazil Colony
Outcome of Beckman's Uprising
The Beckman Revolt lasted more than a year, but, without the support of other cities in the state, it collapsed. In May 1685, the Portuguese sent a squadron to São Luís, and command of the city was regained without much difficulty. The Portuguese fleet brought Gomes Freire de Andrade, the new governor of Maranhão. Many citizens of São Luís fled for fear of punishment.
The arrival of the governor caused normality (from the point of view of the Crown) to be re-established. The new governor issued the orders to arrest those involved in the revolt, and the punishments were dictated. Manuel Beckman and Jorge de Sampaio de Carvalho were sentenced to be hanged. Tomás Beckman and Eugênio Ribeiro Maranhão were arrested, Belquior Gonçalves was flogged and exiled back to Portugal. Others involved were fined.
Like end of the revolt, the Jesuits returned and continued to exploit indigenous labor. The Companhia de Comercio do Maranhão was extinguished, as the popular rejection of it was very great (the revolt itself was a sign of this). Finally, the prohibition on the enslavement of indigenous people was revised by the Crown in Maranhão.
In 1688, a new law came into effect from the month of April. With this law, criteria for the enslavement of indigenous peoples and control over these matters was assigned to the Royal Treasury and the Court. With this law, expeditions (called “descents”) to capture indigenous peoples were resumed. The enslavement of indigenous peoples in Brazil was only strictly prohibited in 1755, by order of the Marquis of Pombal.
By Daniel Neves
History teacher
