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Essay On Domingos Fernandes Nobre

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“Tomacaúna” formally known as Domingos Fernandes Nobre was a famous go-between slave trader in Brazil in the late 1500s. He was born a mameluco, meaning he is half of Portuguese and half of Indian descent. He lived a dual life because he traveled from the capital to the wilderness migrating the Indian slaves into the local Portuguese sugar plantations in the colonies. It was an effortless act due to his skin complexion and his relationship between the Indians. However, a problem soon erupted from Portugal’s Holy Office in 1591 when the bishop of Bahia and several members of the city council created a document denouncing anything or anyone that defies the holy Catholic faith within a thirty-day period. By the time of the inquisitor’s arrival …show more content…

Since the discovery of Brazil in the late 1500s, the Portuguese crown felt it was a moral obligation for the colonies to be a civilized, family oriented community under Christianity. Being a Christian required three key components obedience, baptism, and evangelism and those were values Portugal wanted within these communities and so they wrote a document enforcing everyone to be on the lookout for anything or anyone not abiding to the church. Nobre was denounced when people uncovered him worshiping and kneeling to an idol which later was discovered that he practiced in a Santidade cult. Even though Nobre confessed about his tattooing, worshiping an idol, smoking tobacco, drinking fermented palm wine, and partaking in many Indian ceremonies, the inquisitor viewed these actions as a threat. In his eyes, Nobre set a poor example testifying that the mamelucos were “rude, uncivilized and back sliding Christians… they encouraged relativism and an extreme individualism. In their world, moral decisions were made based not on principles, but on the immediate need” . The inquisitor feared that it would corrupt the

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