“Naõ consentindo por modo algum, que os Meninos, e Meninas, [...] usem da Lingua propria das suas Naçoens, ou da chamada geral; mas unicamente da Portugueza”: Indigenous people and written culture in the ancient Captaincy of Ilhéus

Abstract

The language management policy in Portuguese America, as expressed in the Indigenous Directory, foresaw the prohibition of the use of both general language and the native languages of the different indigenous ethnolinguistic groups and, consequently, the adoption and teaching of the “Prince’s Language” in the indigenous settlements and villages. Drawn up for the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, when the Directory was confirmed and extended to the State of Brazil, by means of the Permit of August 17th 1758, the special court of the Overseas Council, settled in the Captaincy of Bahia, established the necessary measures for the execution of the Indigenous policy of the government of D. Joseph I (1750-1777) and, in particular, its language policy. Within this context, three Indigenous villages were erected in the former Captaincy of Ilhéus: Olivença, Barcelos and Santarém. Based on the Social History of the Written Culture and on sources from the Overseas Historical Archive (AHU), from the State Public Archive of Bahia (APEB) and from the National Library of Rio de Janeiro (BNJR), this article reflects upon the performance of the City Halls clerks of those villages, regarding the obligation of teaching “reading, writing and counting to the boys”, and the demographic-linguistic reconfigurations of those spaces, characterized by the use of the general language. Given the intended “civility” of the indigenous peoples, the language policy expressed in the Directory and its implementation through the “school for indigenous peoples” are essential variables for a better understanding of the Portuguese language advance in the indigenous villages and its linguistic implications.