11/12/2021
New Translations Give Indigenous Perspective on Brazilian Colonization
Breaking Newstags: colonialism, Brazil, Amazon, Indigenous history
In 1645, a bloody war raged between Dutch settlers and the Portuguese empire over the sugar plantations of north-east Brazil.
Trapped on either side of the conflict were the Potiguara, a powerful indigenous nation whose leaders penned a series of letters in the Tupi language, enticing their relatives to defect across enemy lines.
Now, a painstaking new translation of the correspondence has been hailed as a “huge achievement” in casting new light on these unique sources written by a native people.
The forthcoming publication is the fruit of 30 years of work by Eduardo de Almeida Navarro, a specialist in classical indigenous languages at the University of São Paulo.
“It’s hugely exciting to be able to make this contribution to the history of my country,” said Navarro.
The letters were first uncovered in the Dutch archives in 1885, but the texts were blotted and jumbled. Many words were not in existing glossaries of Tupi, which gives us words like piranha and jaguar. In 1906, one frustrated translator called the letters “genuine enigmas”.
Navarro spent decades compiling a comprehensive ancient Tupi dictionary, drawing on the accounts of French traders and English buccaneers. This helped him fully translate the letters, revealing the desperate efforts of the Potiguara chiefs to save their people from destruction.
“Why,” wrote Felipe Camarão, a Potiguara captain fighting for Portugal, “do I make war against people of our own blood? … Come to me and I will forgive you. I will make you one with your ancient culture again. Those that stay there will be destroyed.”
comments powered by Disqus
News
- The Debt Ceiling Law is now a Tool of Partisan Political Power; Abolish It
- Amitai Etzioni, Theorist of Communitarianism, Dies at 94
- Kagan, Sotomayor Join SCOTUS Cons in Sticking it to Unions
- New Evidence: Rehnquist Pretty Much OK with Plessy v. Ferguson
- Ohio Unions Link Academic Freedom and the Freedom to Strike
- First Round of Obama Administration Oral Histories Focus on Political Fault Lines and Policy Tradeoffs
- The Tulsa Race Massacre was an Attack on Black People; Rebuilding Policies were an Attack on Black Wealth
- British Universities are Researching Ties to Slavery. Conservative Alumni Say "Enough"
- Martha Hodes Reconstructs Her Memory of a 1970 Hijacking
- Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"
Trending Now
- New transcript of Ayn Rand at West Point in 1974 shows she claimed “savage" Indians had no right to live here just because they were born here
- The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't
- The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of