Brazil's Jesuits called the people of the land "Negros" (1549–1554)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upOur lens: how we read it
Year: 1549 · Places: South America
The case
Our case: the first Jesuits and the first bishop of Brazil called the Native people Negros in their own letters, from 1549 on. Their towns were the villages of the Negros, and their language was the language of the negros. The word Negro was put on the people of this land by the church, here.
What this case proves for us
Point 3: We were renamed on paper. The word Negro was written on the people of the land in Brazil's first church letters.
Point 1: We are of this land. The language of the negros was Tupi, a language of this land.
Background
The Jesuits arrived in Brazil in 1549 with Manuel da Nóbrega. Pero Fernandes Sardinha was Brazil's first bishop. Their letters were published by Serafim Leite and are quoted in Wittmann (2011).
Our evidence
Exhibit A · Record: Nóbrega, 1549"estão estes Negros mui espantados de nossos officios divinos": these Negros are greatly amazed by our divine offices.
Exhibit B · Record: Nóbrega, 1550"andando pelas aldeias dos Negros": going through the villages of the Negros.
Exhibit C · Record: The bishop, 1553"que no se pervertan los blanquos que en que se convertan los negros": that the whites not be perverted rather than that the negros be converted.
Exhibit D · Record: Lourenço, 1554The children sang songs "en lengua de los negros": in the language of the negros, meaning Tupi.
Exhibit E · Pattern: The church's wordBrazil's first Jesuits and first bishop called the Native people, their towns and their language Negro.
Exhibit F · Our lens: Our lensThe word Negro was put on the people of this land first, by the church, in the 1500s (with P921).
Cross-examination
If Negro meant African, why is Tupi the language of the negros?
Whose villages were the villages of the Negros in 1550?
Verdict: we won
We won on the church's own letters. In Brazil the people of the land were the Negros, their towns the villages of the Negros, their language the language of the negros.
How we won
Nóbrega: these Negros, 1549.
Nóbrega: the villages of the Negros, 1550.
The bishop: whites and negros, 1553.
Lourenço: the language of the negros, 1554.
Where this gets us
Level 1: Awakening. The church's own words that Negro meant the people of the land.
To reach level 2, Paperwork, we still need:
The originals checked in Leite's volumes.
The same usage counted in the Spanish and English churches.
The original card
SUMMARYBrazil's Jesuits called the people of the land "Negros" (1549–1554) (Nov 13, 2026; Witness Index W011, W012, W033, W034)
RECORDManuel da Nóbrega SJ, Bahia, April 15, 1549: "estão estes Negros mui espantados de nossos officios divinos" (these Negros are greatly amazed by our divine offices); Porto Seguro, January 6, 1550: "andando pelas aldeias dos Negros" (going through the villages of the Negros)
RECORDBishop Pero Fernandes Sardinha, Salvador, October 6, 1553: "que no se pervertan los blanquos que en que se convertan los negros" (that the whites not be perverted rather than that the negros be converted)
RECORDBrás Lourenço SJ, Espírito Santo, March 26, 1554: the children sang songs "en lengua de los negros" (in the language of the negros), meaning the Tupi language. All quoted in Wittmann, Espaço Ameríndio 5/2 (2011), from Leite and Nóbrega's Cartas
PATTERNin their own letters the first Jesuits and the first bishop of Brazil called the Native people Negros, their towns the villages of the Negros, and their language the language of the negros
LENS (WW9)the word Negro was put on the people of this land first, by the church, in the 1500s (with P921)