"By Pernambuco being so near": annexation, governments and overseas markets in the Captaincy of Paraiba (1791-1799)

Abstract

In 1794, in one of the last episodes of that century with regard to the intercolonial trade in North captaincies a royal order authorized the commercial trafficking between producing areas of the Captaincy of Paraiba and the port of Recife, the main commercial hub of the region. The royal authorization was issued in the throes of the so-called period of annexation (1756-99), when Paraíba was subordinated to the government of Pernambuco, and contradicted the plans of the then governor of Paraíba, the chief captain Jerónimo de Mello e Castro, who wished to create political and economic mechanisms that allow recovering the autonomy of the Captaincy. Thus, the relationship between the local sphere, represented by interactions between producers and dealers in North captaincies, and the imperial sphere, which exposed the interest of the Portuguese Crown at the end of the century, to promote intercolonial trade, will be the prime object of this article.

Keywords: Portuguese Empire; North captaincies; overseas trade; local elites.