Originally published in Portuguese in 1994 as Negros da Terra, this field-defining work by the late historian John M. Monteiro has been translated into English by Professors Barbara Weinstein and James Woodard. Monteiro's work established ethnohistory as a field in colonial Brazilian studies and made indigenous history a vital part of how scholars understand Brazil's colonial past. Drawing on over two dozen collections on both sides of the Atlantic, Monteiro rescued Indians from invisibility, documenting their role as both objects and actors in Brazil's colonial past and, most importantly, providing the first history of Indian slavery in Brazil. Monteiro demonstrates how Indian enslavement, not exploration or the search for mineral wealth, was the driving force behind expansion out of Sao Paulo and through the South American backcountry. This book makes a groundbreaking contribution not only to Latin American history, but to the history of indigenous slavery in the Americas generally.

The first English translation of the field-defining work in Brazilian studies ethnohistory by the late John M. Monteiro.

About the Author
James Woodard is Professor of History at Montclair State University. He is the author of A Place in Politics: Sao Paulo, Brazil, from Seigneurial Republicanism to Regionalist Revolt (2009). Barbara Weinstein is Silver Professor of History at New York University and Past President of the American Historical Association. She is the author of The Color of Modernity: Sao Paulo and the Making of Race and Nation in Brazil (2015), For Social Peace in Brazil: Industrialists and the Remaking of the Working Class in Sao Paulo, 1920-1964 (1997), and The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920 (1983). John M. Monteiro was a professor in the Department of Anthropology of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas and the director of the same university's Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas. He also held visiting positions at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University, Massachusetts.

Reviews
'Woodard and Weinstein deserve much praise for their work on this important edition and translation of Monteiro's book. It will bring his interdisciplinary methods and comparative perspective on slavery to an even wider readership of historians, anthropologists, and their students. Perhaps most importantly, it will reaffirm the historical roles played by indigenous peoples in the construction of colonial societies across the Americas.' Heather F. Roller, The American Historical Review
'Specialists and students of slavery studies will certainly benefit from Monteiro's interdisciplinary approach and exhaustive analysis. Non-specialists interested in histories of colonial encounters and colonial labour systems will profit as well from this thorough edition.' Ana Moledo, Connections



Book Information
ISBN 9781107535183
Author James Woodard
Format Paperback
Page Count 290
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 153mm * 18mm