Misdirection in the Cuiabá mines: the case of superintendent Manuel Rodrigues Torres and imperial political communication (1736-1746)

• Grant number: 24/21100-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Andrea Slemian
• Grantee: Maisa Santos de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project seeks to analyze the actions of the gold superintendent of the captaincy of Mato Grosso and the misconduct that was reported, through a study of the career of Manuel Rodrigues Torres, who held this position and that of the Cuiabá mines from 1736 until 1740, when he was arrested. While carrying out his duties, Manuel Torres was accused by the general inspector João Gonçalves de Oliveira of confiscating gold from the royal treasury and using it for personal gain. The documentary sources were selected from the collection of the Overseas Historical Archive, from the Projeto Resgate website - from the set of documents Avulsos and from the Codices related to the captaincies -, as well as from the Circuitos Oceânicos Database, developed by the project "Colonial petitions: political communication and social representation in the Portuguese Empire (1736-1807)". Our central point will be to discuss, in addition to the individual's trajectory and the penalties imposed for irregularities committed in office, imperial communication and the means of producing and obtaining information about wrongdoings in Portuguese America.