The Tupinambá (Part 4)

Potiguara Resistance

The sixteenth century witnessed important wars of resistance, although the textbooks scarcely register them. There were numerous wars, but it is difficult to reconstruct the facts, for the Portuguese sources are scarce about defeats and their numerous reprisals against native peoples. During the sixteenth century many nations were totally exterminated, such as the Caeté of Alagoas and the Goitaka of Rio de Janeiro. Others submitted, such as the Tobajara from the interior of Paraíba, the Potiguara of Rio Grande do Norte and the Tupinikim of São Paulo and Bahia.

The Potiguara that lived in Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte resisted for thirteen years (1586 to 1599); but were finally integrated or extinguished.

The invasion of Paraíba began in 1579, when Frutuoso Barbosa arrived with orders from the King of Portugal to take possession of the territory. He brought with him a proper expedition composed of soldiers, friars and adventurers.

Helped by the French, the Potiguara, akin to the Tupinambá, armed themselves and, in 1586, attacked the fortress that the Portuguese had built. There was little time for an overwhelming victory. Reinforcements from Pernambuco saved the Portuguese, which managed to reverse the situation thanks to firearms.

The Potiguara resisted under the leadership of Tijukupapo and Penakama at the head of warriors from more than fifty villages. But the alliance with the Tobajara, enemies of the Potiguara, was a decisive factor for the Portuguese to change the course of the war, aided by a terrible epidemic of smallpox that caused great mortality among the natives.

In 1598 the Potiguara already showed signs of fatigue and decided to sue for peace. As always, this peace represented the death of the weakest, for the conqueror had other plans, and his words served only to deceive. The Potiguara survivors of the massacres live today in a place called the Bay of Betrayal.