**4. From the first contacts to the appearing of Xavante reserves**

the world trade, to intensify the exchange volume, to create new needs and new types of products, to implant new productive resources in new regions, and to place all manpower,

The organic need for expansion of the capitalism produces significant space and social changes as the capitalist mode of production destabilizes and replaces the previous mode of production. The capitalist model, consequently, starts to create new symbols, to restructure social and power relationships and ends up imposing a new space organization. The materialization derived from that restructuring consolidates a new landscape and hegemonizes the new production mode. The resulting landscape responds to other signs, making any material or ideological remnant of the previous model devalued or stigmatized, becoming a "residual

The nonappreciation of alternative landscapes to the capitalism or the self-stigmatization of those landscapes as "residuals" is part of the cultural and sociospatial weakening and breakdown necessary to the capitalist expansion. The nonrecognition of pre-existing space contexts and the steamroller effect of the expansion activities open the necessary path to insert a new production mode which, through a new appropriation of resources, deconstructs the previ-

The consolidation of that production mode is followed by a cultural landscape that rewrites and is rewritten by a new social economic dynamic. The hegemony, at last, arises from the thorough or an almost complete elimination of the previous cultural symbolisms and social relationships. Only a dilution that is carried out under a conditioned coexistence is left to the

The Xavante landscape and territory, by that perspective, should not be recognized by the capitalism as a parallel force, but as an obstacle to the insertion of new areas, creation of markets, and, consequently, impediment to the reproduction of capital. It should be seen as a remnant of a past cultural and economic model, which was replaced due to its "inability" to

Everything previously constructed by the Xavante should be, inside the capitalism, relativized, or even distorted, in an attempt to downgrade the Indian way of relating to nature. Likewise, the symbols and marks given to the space by the Xavante must be perceived by the capitalists as remnant of a distant past and at present without the necessary strength to resist the inevitable capitalist headway. The possibility of profit, capitalism's main target, superposes any millenarian culture or its principles. The ancestral lands are, through a capitalist optics, underutilized available resources that sooner or later will give in to the market

At this point, a more detailed recognition about landscape appropriation and territory formation experienced by the Xavante in the interface with the national society becomes necessary. In this way, it is possible to identify the true circumstances of the change of the production mode paradigm to achieve a real spatial and temporal understanding of the capital move-

ments and the changes in the Xavante landscape over the centuries of contact.

everywhere, under the capital domination.

landscape" [2].

48 Indigenous People

ous relationship models.

residual landscapes.

"needs."

cater to new social demands.

The main economic activities that vectorized and consolidated the implantation of a capitalist production mode in the ancestral Xavante territories, already from the XVIII century, derived from a mercantile and colonial matrix, having, for this, the function of subsisting the markets outside the Indian territory. Among those activities, it is possible to highlight the primary ones: agriculture, livestock, and mining.

Another important economic activity in the period were the *Bandeiras* and *Entradas* (military expeditions with the aim of imprisoning Indians to make them slaves, besides the search for precious metals and gems) which allowed the recognition and opening of paths in the colony hinterlands, as well as establishing contacts and "pacifying" several ethnic groups who inhabited those hinterlands. Although those pioneering activities did not consolidate the occupation, they enlarged the horizons and the economical possibilities of the colony.

The colonization internalization promoted by those activities were marked by two interconnected and subsequent movements. At the first moment, the livestock activity took on a prominent role through the sugar economy that, during the XVII century, promoted a large accumulation of surpluses for the sugar mill lords and, at the same time, stimulated the internalization of other activities, thus creating an economical synergy through the demand for other basic products.

Activities like livestock and the detention of Indians guaranteed the supply of meat, animal traction, leather goods, and the necessary manpower for the plantation, harvesting, and sugar cane processing in the sugar mills. Based on that, it is possible to affirm that the livestock and the Bandeiras represent, simultaneously, the mainstay of the coastal sugar activity and the vectorization of the mercantile capitalism in the colony backlands during that period.

The second moment is precisely marked by a consequence of the internalization of those support activities. The incessant search for the detention and enslavement of Indians guaranteed not only the manpower supply but also revealed important gold and other precious gems deposit in parts of the travelled backlands. The ascension of the mining activity creates a new economic synergy under which the livestock internalization deepens, generating new mineral discoveries, and taking with it the mixed farming agriculture.

Mining emerges circumstantially in that period as an articulating element of the precious metal discoveries that led to significant migratory movements toward the extraction sites in the colony backlands. Those movements, in their turn, started demanding expressive amounts of food, clothes, tools, among other items. Therefore, mining behaved as a centrifugal activity during that period, which from a nucleus, it irradiated through space as a model of spatial, social, and ideological organization, embodying a form until then unknown of occupation and space organization in the colony backlands.

And that is how the Xavante territories began to be transformed as they started receiving indirect flows irradiated by the nucleus of colonial occupation. The XVII and XVIII centuries pastoral fronts reached lands surrounding the Xavante, who, without any desire for contact—by their own strategy or not—started their first large migratory movement beyond the Tocantins river, where contacts with new pioneering activity fronts only occurred between the XIX and XX centuries [4].

The discoveries of gold and diamonds in the territories, which nowadays belong to the states of Mato Grosso and Goiás, did not take long to happen, when, by 1720, alluvial deposits were discovered and promptly aroused the greed of many, stimulating the arrival of new expansion fronts in the valleys and interfluves of the Tocantins-Araguaia River Basin. The lands inhabited by the Xavante once more got in the way of the economic advances.

Contradictorily, the more pronounced expropriation of the Xavante lands guaranteed the maintenance of a part of its territory, once from there, a long process was initiated and culminated with the creation of their reserves. The reduction and delimitation of the Indian territory symbolized a vital "concession" for the capital expansion, as that mechanism simultaneously eliminated the "element of discord" and opened up the way for the settlement of the economic activities necessary for the accumulation and production of surpluses.

The "submissions" of the people belonging to the Akwen Group happened gradually and were conditioned to numerous conflicts that produced significant losses both for the Indians and the settlers. Those conflicts, above all, served as a purpose to show how dissatisfied those people were in relation to the attempts not only to insert them in the Indian village policy but also to exhibit the military power of those nations and their ability. The Xavante, after numerous conflicts, were reduced to the Indian villages of Mossâmedes and Pedro III (in the Carretão croft), near the rivers Carretão Grande (current São Patricio river) and Crixás, between the years 1784 and 1788.

Even so, the "submission," although it symbolizes an important victory over the gentio (pejorative way of referring to the Indian people by the settlers), would be the first step only of the pacification process, the second being to make the Xavante people "weaker" in order to discourage or even inhibit insurrections. In this sense, the first measure adopted was the fragmentation of the group in two distinct villages, dismantling the tribal orders and making it difficult to organize any type of offensive. The first Indian village created was the Pedro III, in the Carretão croft, on the border of the Carretão Grande River, and the second, near the Crixás River, named Mossâmedes.

Although the measure was vehemently opposed by the Xavante, it was implemented anyway due to the lack of structure of the first village to receive such a large number of Indians. Thus, the people fragmentation, besides being inevitable, efficiently attended the purposes idealized by the Crown of undoing the Xavante cohesion.

the colony backlands. Those movements, in their turn, started demanding expressive amounts of food, clothes, tools, among other items. Therefore, mining behaved as a centrifugal activity during that period, which from a nucleus, it irradiated through space as a model of spatial, social, and ideological organization, embodying a form until then unknown of occupation

And that is how the Xavante territories began to be transformed as they started receiving indirect flows irradiated by the nucleus of colonial occupation. The XVII and XVIII centuries pastoral fronts reached lands surrounding the Xavante, who, without any desire for contact—by their own strategy or not—started their first large migratory movement beyond the Tocantins river, where contacts with new pioneering activity fronts only occurred between the XIX and

The discoveries of gold and diamonds in the territories, which nowadays belong to the states of Mato Grosso and Goiás, did not take long to happen, when, by 1720, alluvial deposits were discovered and promptly aroused the greed of many, stimulating the arrival of new expansion fronts in the valleys and interfluves of the Tocantins-Araguaia River Basin. The lands

Contradictorily, the more pronounced expropriation of the Xavante lands guaranteed the maintenance of a part of its territory, once from there, a long process was initiated and culminated with the creation of their reserves. The reduction and delimitation of the Indian territory symbolized a vital "concession" for the capital expansion, as that mechanism simultaneously eliminated the "element of discord" and opened up the way for the settlement of

The "submissions" of the people belonging to the Akwen Group happened gradually and were conditioned to numerous conflicts that produced significant losses both for the Indians and the settlers. Those conflicts, above all, served as a purpose to show how dissatisfied those people were in relation to the attempts not only to insert them in the Indian village policy but also to exhibit the military power of those nations and their ability. The Xavante, after numerous conflicts, were reduced to the Indian villages of Mossâmedes and Pedro III (in the Carretão croft), near the rivers Carretão Grande (current São Patricio river) and Crixás,

Even so, the "submission," although it symbolizes an important victory over the gentio (pejorative way of referring to the Indian people by the settlers), would be the first step only of the pacification process, the second being to make the Xavante people "weaker" in order to discourage or even inhibit insurrections. In this sense, the first measure adopted was the fragmentation of the group in two distinct villages, dismantling the tribal orders and making it difficult to organize any type of offensive. The first Indian village created was the Pedro III, in the Carretão croft, on the border of the Carretão Grande River, and the second, near the

Although the measure was vehemently opposed by the Xavante, it was implemented anyway due to the lack of structure of the first village to receive such a large number of Indians. Thus,

inhabited by the Xavante once more got in the way of the economic advances.

the economic activities necessary for the accumulation and production of surpluses.

and space organization in the colony backlands.

XX centuries [4].

50 Indigenous People

between the years 1784 and 1788.

Crixás River, named Mossâmedes.

The process was concluded through hunger, mistreatment, and diseases that symbolized the fastest and more efficient ways of disaggregation and eradication of the Xavante people in the villages. A measles epidemic may have been the main cause for the death of a significant portion of the villagers, causing the few remnants to flee to hinterlands not yet occupied in the search of a new start.

The failure of the Indian villages brought back the political and territorial uncertainty in the Province of Goiás and reestablished ancient conflicts between settlers and Indians, which required the development of new Indian people control policies by the colonial government. As an answer to those new demands, the Crown invigorated the military force policy against the Indians through the May 13, 1808 regiment. The Goiás government, in its turn, abiding by the designated guidelines, created "military prisons" that were aimed at sheltering those who were captured in combat, be them Indian men, women, or children.

The imprisonment policy built around thirteen prisons in the Province of Goiás only, and one of those was especially constructed to shelter the groups Xavante and Xerente. The Santa Maria do Araguaia military prison had the objective of isolating those groups from the crescent colonization and navigation that was happening in the Araguaia River Region.

That prison represented an emblematic moment in the history of some people that inhabited the central Brazil region, in particular for the Xavante, because besides not submitting to the prison, they also banded together with the Xerentes and Carajás to form a coalition of Indian nations to attack the prison. At the end of conflict, in the year 1813, the Santa Maria do Araguaia prison was destroyed, thus sealing the destiny of those people who, in the face of such insult, would not be able to inhabit the land in the confluence of the Araguaia and Tocantins Rivers anymore.

The years after that episode were of intense persecution and conflicts which forced the allied ethnic groups to disperse while searching for new lands out of the colonial influence. In that period, several reports about the Xavante dispersion in the north of Goiás appeared, an attempt of isolation that failed due to the greed of the settlers who put down roots in that part of the territory.

The impossibility to remain in their ancestral territories made Xavantes and Xerentes go looking for new spots inward the hinterland, so they crossed the Araguaia River westbound. Between 1850 and 1890, large migratory movements of the Xavante ethnics group gradually happened toward the lands that these days encompass the Mato Grosso state. The Xavante groups by the end of the XIX century began their search for "redemption" in the Mato Grosso lands, first, crossing the Araguaia River (or *Öprè*) and second, the Cristalino River to, finally, cross the Mortes River (or *Owawe*).

Thereafter, a series of displacements and socio-spatial changes in the Xavante society took place, which culminated in the establishment of three distinct regions of occupation on the West bank of the Araguaia River, between the Cristalino and Mortes Rivers.
