Abstract In a historical-anthropological approach, this text aims to demonstrate the role of the indigenous peoples of Portuguese America in the processes of conquest and occupation of the region in the 16th century. The interdisciplinary analysis of the contact relations between indigenous peoples and Europeans shows the influence of their actions on the Portuguese indigenist policy. Although constructed during the reign of King João III, this policy developed from the challenges imposed by the native peoples since the first contacts, still during the reign of King Manuel I. By highlighting how the political actions of indigenous peoples and their complex interactions with the colonizers gave limits and possibilities to the decisions of the Metropolis regarding the policies of conquest and formation of colonial societies in America, this text contributes to the current historiographical debate that questions the centrality of the Portuguese empire, valuing local dynamics that include the actions of subaltern peoples for the analysis of policies, laws and power relations between the colony and the Metropolis.
Maria Regina Celestino de Almeida (Thu,) studied this question.