#  Indigenous Agency and Colonial Encounters in Brazil, 1500-1600: History and Recent Historiography 

 



Lígia Bellini

The paper discusses certain characteristics of the cultural traditions involved in the formation of Brazil as a Portuguese colony and the changes they underwent, considering the contact between these traditions as a relationship in which each part influenced the others, although not equally. It focuses on shifts in the ethical and religious principles, and also in the social and economic strategies of the Portuguese, in order that these colonizers could deal with, and be accepted by, native Brazilians. The analysis of recent historiography and primary sources such as writings of the Jesuit fathers and other chroniclers throws the Indians' role as historical agents into relief.

**\[WP #97002\]**