Nations and Frontiers in the Far West: Quilombos in Mato Grosso, 18th and 19th Centuries

The Global Studies in Migration and Diaspora Research Workshop and the Latin American and Caribbean History Workshop are excited to announce our Spring quarter collaboration, featuring Nina de Meira Borba, a PhD candidate in History at Stanford University. Join us for an insightful presentation titled, "'Nations and Frontiers in the Far West: Quilombos in Mato Grosso, 18th and 19th centuries." The presentation will be followed by a Q&A and an open discussion. 

Abstract: In the far west of Brazil, the captaincy of Mato Grosso marked the last and most distant frontier of Portuguese colonization in the Americas. Such a sparsely populated and remote region also proved to be a fertile ground for the formation of Quilombos. These autonomous societies, formed and peopled predominantly by formerly enslaved individuals who fled bondage, stood as havens of Afro-Brazilian resistance during the era of slavery in Brazil. Through the assessment of archival documents on the Quilombo do Quariterê, Quilombo do Piolho, and Quilombo do Rio Manso, this paper identifies the intricate relationships between these nations and Indigenous peoples, as well as with provincial or national powers, through a mixture of armed struggle, strategic trade, and collaboration.