PLACE OF PUNISHMENT OR REWARD: AN 18TH-CENTURY

Abstract

Abstract

This article analyzes the formation and longevity of the São Nicolau do Rio Pardo *aldeamento* (Indigenous settlement) during the second half of the 18th century. Against the backdrop of undefined geographic and political boundaries between the Portuguese and Spanish Empires in the Río de la Plata borderlands—and the implementation of the assimilationist guidelines of the *Diretório dos Índios* (Directorate of the Indians)—we examine aspects of how the settlement was maintained as an eminently Indigenous space for over a century. The primary objective is to investigate the social dynamics and the strategies of spatial and social mobility adopted by the Indigenous people themselves within this borderland setting. Employing a methodological approach that bridges history and anthropology, the research relies on the analysis of documents such as interrogations and military reports from the latter half of the 18th century. The results indicate that Guarani movement, military desertions, cattle raiding, and various cultural practices formed a complex network of social interaction and negotiation. The study concludes that the settlement's persistence was not merely the result of colonial impositions but stemmed from the historical agency of the Guarani, who leveraged the border environment and Iberian rivalries as strategies for survival and autonomy.