Notaries of color in colonial Panama: Limpieza de Sangre, legislation, and imperial practices in the administration of the Spanish empire

This is the final version of the article. Available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this record.Funding from the Federation of Women Graduates Charitable Foundation, the AHRC Doctoral Award, and the Society for Latin American Studies Post-doctoral Travel Grant (UK) made possible the archival research

Notaries of color in colonial Panama : Limpieza de Sangre, Legislation and Imperial Practices in the Administration of the Spanish Empire

On July 20, 1740, King Philip V of Spain was given paperwork regarding a dispute over the adjudication of a notarial office in Panama City and, as usual, he was expected to make a decision. The king also had in hand recommendations from the Cámara of the Consejo de Indias. The king would have handled the case in a relatively straightforward manner, but for one fact—the two notaries involved in the public bid were of African descent.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Makers and Keepers of Networks: Amerindian Spaces, Migrations, and Exchanges in the Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana, 1600–1730.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Duke University Press via the DOI in this record.This article focuses on the geographical space between the Amazon delta and the Maroni River (nowadays Brazilian Amapá and French Guiana) in 1600–1730. An imperial frontier between France and Portugal South American possessions, it has been conceptualized as a refuge zone for Amerindians fleeing European colonization. On the contrary, this article argues that the migrations and movements of people toward and within this Amerindian space have to be understood as a continuation of a pre-European set of indigenous networks. Through the reconstruction of multilingual and multiethnic networks, this article brings to light connections and exchanges that make of this space an Amerindian center as well as a European frontier. It analyzes conflicts, gatherings, celebrations, migrations, and alliances between European and Amerindian groups, including the Aruã, Maraon, Arikaré, Palikur, and Galibi. Rather than a refuge zone, this space remained central to Amerindian life and to the upholding of indigenous autonomy due to the maintenance of inter- and intra-ethnic connections and the regular use of routes across this space

Rethinking Amerindian spaces in Brazilian history

We are grateful to the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2012-699 and SG132847 2014-2015) for funding.This special issue on Amerindian spaces is the result of a workshop held at the University of St. Andrews, UK, in June 2015. We asked participants to examine key concepts related to spatial history, such as borderlands, frontiers, and territories, by looking at them through alliances and rebellions involving Amerindians and the colonial and independent states in Latin America.1 Our aim was to gain a continental understanding of Indian political geography that went beyond European territorial divisions. This purpose continues into the present issue with its focus on the internal and international frontiers of Brazil and how they relate to spaces of indigenous collective action. The articles here reexamine areas that have been considered peripheral in Brazilian historiography, placing the emphasis on indigenous history and society. These spaces proved surprisingly impervious to the imposition of external authority, but each space has its own history that cannot be solely defined by the internal and external frontiers of Brazilian colonial and national expansion. Equally, these indigenous spaces influenced policy and practice, as governments sought to exert control over native labor and advance land settlement for colonists. Our choice for a spatial perspective forces an examination of a regionally connected system of social groups and the environments in which people lived, and which they sought to protect and defend. As a result, we go beyond place, territory, and frontier as concepts and use the term space to invoke a direct and holistic relationship with the larger spheres in which people move and act.PostprintPeer reviewe

A free coloured elite? : trade, identity and social mobility in Panama city, 1700-1770

Built on a large corpus of archival sources, this study analyses free people of African descent in eighteenth century Panama City. Using micro-historical and prosopographical methodologies and being organised around a lengthy trade lawsuit between coloured and white pedlars and merchants (1711-1765), my investigation revolves around three main themes. First, I analyse the urban economy in relation to local legislation, wide trans-Atlantic trade dynamics and contraband. This allows me to demonstrate that eighteenth-century Panama City's trade legislation against coloured people, which was promoted by white pedlars and merchants, did not originate in race per se, but had its origins in economic competition and strict governmental regulation on trade. Second, I analyse free coloured people's individual and collective identity, focusing on techniques of upward socio-economic mobility, inter- racial relations and support networks. I argue that although socio-economic upward mobility was frequently an individual initiative, it also occasionally occurred as a collective initiative. Indeed, the legislation banning coloured people from the trade business favoured the appearance of a multi-craft guild based on race, status, identity and common objectives to legally fight for their rights to socio-economic improvement. Finally, I contribute to the current historiographical debate on whether Panama City was conceived and planned as an "elitist city" whose walled area was only inhabited by the white elite, excluding the rest of the population to the Arrabal. My research demonstrates that this thesis is not valid because colonial society was not strictly racial divisible as there were interracial socio-economic networks and inter-racial marriages, and the elite did not have an exclusive conception of Panama City. As a whole, my PhD thesis challenges the current strict hierarchical conception of Panama City's colonial society, and contributes to the understanding of free coloured people's individual and collective agency and identity during the colonial period.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Notaries of color in colonial Panama:Limpieza de Sangre, Legislation and Imperial Practices in the Administration of the Spanish Empire

On July 20, 1740, King Philip V of Spain was given paperwork regarding a dispute over the adjudication of a notarial office in Panama City and, as usual, he was expected to make a decision. The king also had in hand recommendations from the Cámara of the Consejo de Indias. The king would have handled the case in a relatively straightforward manner, but for one fact—the two notaries involved in the public bid were of African descent

Frontier Politics: French, Portuguese and Indigenous Interactions between Cayenne and the Amazon, 1680-1697

This is the author accepted manuscript