Cabanagem Rebellion in Brazil 1835-1837

Following years of unrest, on January 7, 1835, rebels killed the reactionary president (Bernardo Lobo de Sousa) of the province of Pará, Brazil. The rebels, known as cabanos, were an alliance between secessionist elements of the middle class and the mostly black and Indian or mixed-blood settlers who lived in relative poverty in cabana huts on the flood plains and riverbanks around Belém and the lower Amazon. Sousa was replaced by a compromise candidate, Félix Antônio Clemente Malcher, who sought to restrain the rebels. On February 21, 1835, Malcher was killed. Francisco Pedro Vinagre became the new president. He also tried to contain the rebellion and negotiate with the regency of Brazil. However, the government of Brazil chose to send troops, under the command of Manuel Jorge Rodrigues, to restore order. Rodrigues expelled the cabanos from Belém in July 1835. He became president of Pará on July 28, 1835. The cabanos regrouped in the interior. In August 1835, cabano forces marched on Belém. After days of bloody fighting, the survivors of the Brazilian government fled, leaving the cabanos in control, under the leadership of Eduardo Francisco Nogueira dito Angelim. In the area around Belém many sugar mills and plantations were destroyed, their white owners being put to death. Bands of cabanos roamed throughout Pará, and in most settlements the non-white population spontaneously joined their ranks, while looting and killing. Brazilian officials described the rebellion as "a ghastly revolution in which barbarism seemed about to devour all existing civilization in one single gulp." Amid the chaos, Angelim proclaimed the formation of the independent Republic of Pará with himself as president. The cabanos then attempted to form some kind of revolutionary government. However, they never had any real program, nor did they succeed in controlling their own followers. Meanwhile, the Brazilian regency prepared to fight back with more troops from the south. In April 1836, Francisco José de Souza Soares de Andrea was appointed president of Pará by the regency and, with some 2500 imperial troops, he sailed for Belém. After meeting some resistance, the Brazilian force captured Belém on May 13, 1836. The cabanos retreated into the interior of the province. Imperial troops then proceeded to reestablish control of Pará by force. By the time the Cabanagem Rebellion was completely crushed, sometime in 1837, about 30,000 people are estimated to have died - somewhere between 20% and 40% of the population of the province of Pará. The participation of lower-class people, Indians, free and runaway blacks and slaves, partly explains the fierce suppression.

References

Brazil - A Country Study; Cabanagem Rebellion; Brazil; Rebeliões no Período Regencial.

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