A Fixação da Igreja no Território Cearense Durante o Século XVIII – Algumas Notas

Abstract

The Ceará was later colonized. During the eighteenth century, the cattlemen and their herds crossed the territory of Ceará. The fixation of the cattlemen, the sesmeiros of the hinterland, allied to the Church - taming the indigenous population that resisted the expansion of the breeding - and the participation of the Portuguese State - with the founding of villages in Ceará - meant the possibility of capitalization around the commercial activity livestock. The cattle farm in the outback was the headquarters of the occupation. Beside one or other farm, earth were donated to the saints by the conquerors themselves to the achievement of religious acts, which were erected some of the first chapels in the territory, others were built in the early settlements. In the course of the century, while constructing religious buildings on site previously given by the Bishop of Pernambuco, the Portuguese State tended to demarcate the areas of parishes. Possibly due to the low profitability of livestock, just one parish “colada” was founded in Ceará during the eighteenth century, confirming that the territory aroused little interest to Portugal