Vila Rica Revolt

Trial of Filipe dos Santos. Oil by Antônio Parreiras depicting the mythical version of the execution. In the background, the painter shows the smoke from the burning of the houses of the rebels

The Vila Rica Revolt (Portuguese: Revolta de Vila Rica), also known as Vila Rica Sedition, was a colonial revolt against the Portuguese crown.[1][2] It took place between June 28 and July 19, 1720, in Vila Rica, a city in the Royal Captaincy of Minas de Ouro and Campos Gerais dos Cataguases, in Colonial Brazil. It is traditionally considered a nativist movement by Brazilian historiography, and one of the precursors of the so-called Minas Gerais Conspiracy.[3] Recent reviews show that it was part of a cycle of local contestations that sought to correct errors of the administration.[4] It is also commonly referred to as Filipe dos Santos Revolt, after one of its leaders.[3]

Among its direct causes were the creation of the foundry houses, the prohibition of the circulation of gold dust and the monopoly of the main commodities by reinóis (those born in Portugal). The revolt was met with an energetic reaction from governor Pedro Miguel de Almeida Portugal e Vasconcelos, the Count of Assumar, that culminated with the execution of its main leader, Filipe dos Santos.[2]

  1. ^ "Revolta de Vila Rica 1720". História do Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Silva; Bastos (1976). História do Brasil: Colônia, Império e República. p. 240.
  3. ^ a b Maior (1968). História do Brasil. pp. 196–198.
  4. ^ Anastasia (1998). Vassalos Rebeldes: Violência Coletiva Nas Minas Na Primeira Metade Do Século XVIII.