Cosme Bento

Cosme Bento
Born
Cosme Bento das Chagas

between 1800 and 1802
Sobral, Ceará, State of Brazil
DiedSeptember 1842
Itapecuru Mirim, Maranhão, Empire of Brazil

Cosme Bento das Chagas (between 1800 and 1802 – September 1842), also known as Negro Cosme, was the Black Brazilian leader of a settlement of runaway enslaved people, known as a quilombo.[1] In 1830, having already been freed from slavery, was imprisoned in São Luís, in Maranhão, for having murdered Francisco Raimundo Ribeiro. He escaped prison and, after a period where there is little historical record of him, became a leader of a quilombo.[2][3]

In December 1838, the movement, known as the Balaiada, broke out of Maranhão due the invasion of the jail in the village of Manga by Raimundo Gomes. With the rebellion repressed by Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, the resistance would only be maintained with the military support given by Cosme Bento and the more than 3,000 people he commanded.[4] Cosme adopted the title of "Dom Cosme Bento das Chagas, Tutor e Imperador da Liberdade Bem-Te-Vi" and established on the Tocanguira plantation, in Lagoa Amarela, the largest quilombo in Maranhão's history.[3]

After Raimundo Gomes was arrested on 15 January 1841, the movement had been considered disbanded, but Cosme was only imprimosed in Mearim on 7 February. Imprisoned for helping enslaved people rise up, he was executed in September 1842, hanged in front of Itapecuru public prison, now the Casa da Cultura Professor João Silveira.[4][5][6]

  1. ^ LUZ, Gerlândia. A revolta balaiada no maranhão. Maranhão, 2016. Available at: <https://rosario.ufma.br/jspui/bitstream/123456789/880/1/GERLANDIALUZ.pdf>. Accessed 19 March 2024. pps. 12 – 21.
  2. ^ NÉRIS, Francerli Santos e FRANÇA, Giovana Sousa. Balaiada – MSB, movimento social do século XIX com semelhanças ao movimento dos sem terra – MST. Maranhão, 2004. Available at: <http://www.efgma.org.br/site/images/pdf/trabalhos-conclusao-curso/balaiada-msb-pdf.pdf>. Accessed 19 March 2024. pps. 9 – 30.
  3. ^ a b "A rota da liberdade do negro Cosme Bento das Chagas e a Balaiada (1838–1841) – Geledés". www.geledes.org.br. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Heróis". antigo.acordacultura.org.br. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  5. ^ LABORATÓRIO DE HISTÓRIA ORAL E IMAGEM (LABHOI). Inventário dos Lugares de Memória do Tráfico Atlântico de Escravos e da História dos Africanos Escravizados no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 2013. Available at: <http://www.labhoi.uff.br/sites/default/files/6_inventario_revoltas.pdf>. Accessed 19 March 2024. pps.: 1 – 2.
  6. ^ BARRETO, Adriana de Souza. Hierarquia e mediação na trajetória do duque de Caxias. Rio de Janeiro, 2009. Available at: <http://www.lemp.historia.ufrj.br/revista/ante/Militares_e_Politica_LEMP_n_05.pdf#page=7>.Accessed 19 March 2024. pps.: 15 – 23.