This paper analyzes the economic dynamics of the Amazon in the colonial period through the description of social relations between Indians and missionaries built during this period. The analysis shows the complementarity between the supply and extraction highlighting specific ways that these activities have taken in the region. The article presents domesticity, reciprocity and redistribution as key elements in the reproduction of indigenous customs within the missionary settlements. On the other hand, it also demonstrates the role that global market demand for "drogas do sertão". For these groups, this demand caused an abrupt decimation of indigenous populations that were the real people responsible for the maintenance of life in Colonial Amazonia.
Amazon; supply; colonial economy
