Portuguese in the Viceroyalty of Peru: Mining Economy, Trade, and Good Integration
he attraction of the Potosí mines was the decisive factor for the settlement of Portuguese in the Viceroyalty of Peru in the 17th century, says Gleydi Sullón Barreto, researcher at CHAM-Centre for Humanities. However, there were other factors behind these migrations, such as participation in the trade of enslaved people, navigation, and the practice of artisanal activities. Lima was the main destination, but there are also records of Portuguese presence in Piura, Trujillo, Cajamarca, Ayacucho, and Arequipa, among others. Despite legal restrictions, they easily integrated into the new communities without forming corporate groups. Did they also escape the Inquisition, as some historiography suggests? Gleydi Sullón has not found any documentation to support this theory, as the Portuguese were either authentic Old Christians or New Christians. She adds that the Portuguese contributed in a discreet but decisive way to the formation of Hispanic-American societies.
Gleydi Sullón Barreto is an integrated researcher at CHAM-Centre for Humanities, specialising in the study of the Portuguese in the 17th-century Viceroyalty of Peru, based on the analysis of notarial documents. She is currently developing the project "Portuguese Emigration in Spanish Peru, 1570-1700: Social Life, Economic Culture, and the Question of Identities", under a contract with FCT. Gleydi Sullón Barreto holds a PhD in History from the Complutense University of Madrid and is the author of Extranjeros Integrados: Portugueses en la Lima Virreinal, 1570-1680 (2016) and Viajantes al Nuevo Mundo: Extranjeros en Lima, 1590-1640 (2019).
The interview is conducted by Joana Rodrigues.
Coordenation
Isabel Araújo Branco (CHAM)
Organization
CHAM / NOVA FCSH
