Bahia em transe: o Recôncavo no movimento rebelde de 1798

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the insertion of Recôncavo in the map of the Rebel Movement of 1798, based on the construction and operation of a revolutionary network that circulated between the City of Bahia and the towns and parishes of São Francisco do Conde and Santo Amaro da Purificação, with ramifications and developments in Vila de Cachoeira, being the target of investigations that revealed ideas, actions, accusations, characters, plots, arrests and convictions, in a restless and distressed Bahia in the face of a crisis scenario that showed the fearlessness and political boldness of various subjects in pursuing their agendas. Around 1795-1798, a rebellious network was articulated between Salvador and the sugar heart of Bahia, with one of the main characters being the surgeon Cipriano José Barata de Almeida, who settled in Freguesia do Monte, Vila de São Francisco do Conde, spreading there ideas of revolution linked to the plans and bulletins published in the capital, on August 12, 1798. The revolutionary network was born in Salvador, with one of the main organizers being father Francisco Agostinho Gomes, who together with lieutenant Hermógenes Francisco de Aguilar Pantoja translated french works and indoctrinated rebels into actions linked to political- economic, freedom inspired by enlightenment ideas of the time. However, Cipriano Barata’s indoctrination through the Recôncavo reached people of color, such as the master bricklayer Antônio Simões da Cunha, who had access to revolutionary ideas, reinterpreting them in light of the possibility of achieving social equality, which here we can translate as the search for citizenship. The brown man Domingos Borges de Barros was also part of this rebellious network, spreading anti-religious content throughout the village of Santo Amaro da Purificação, allied with the other brown people who practiced such actions in the City of Bahia. Some rebels circulated through Vila de Cachoeira, such as the enslaved José Félix da Costa who sought a path to freedom in the 1798 Movement, and allegations of sedition against the magistrate Joaquim de Amorim e Castro also emerged in this location., determined in the context of the developments of this historical event. Therefore, we demonstrate in this thesis how Recôncavo was a nest for the articulation and dissemination of various freedom and equality projects at the end of the 18th century in Bahia.