Aldeias System

Jesuits teaching in a Brazilian aldeias.

It was quickly realized in the new colonial Brazil that the native Indians were the only source of workers readily available for European control. While Jesuit actions through the aldeias system aided the Indian enslavement, members of this group were quick to stand up against the practice[1]. A heated battle quickly began against the planter class, who through the use of three different techniques tried to bring the natives under their control, they were: “first as slaves, second as a type of indigenousness “peasantry” through the detribalization and acculturation in the aldeias, and third as wage earners slowly integrated into the capitalist system.[2]” Jesuit missionaries, along with other Church members swiftly voiced their opinion on this practice, sighting it as, “contrary to Christian intentions of the king.[3]” To counteract the planter’s actions they began using the aldeias system to gather and protect the Indians both physically and spiritually.