by Mark Harris
First published 2025
The Amazon region defies easy definition for modern researchers. Mark Harris tackles the complex formation of Brazilian Amazonian societies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He concentrates his study on the Eastern Amazon, covering present-day Pará and Amapá states in Brazil. Harris argues that the region developed through the combined activities of Indigenous groups speaking different languages, people of mixed ancestry, and poor European and African migrants from multiple nations. These diverse populations are seldom studied as interconnected forces, but Harris brings them together in a unified historical account. He shows how the Brazilian Amazon emerged from the collective efforts of all these communities and their conflicts. The book reveals how different ethnic groups formed partnerships and alliances to protect the Amazon territory. Harris demonstrates that understanding Amazonian history requires examining these varied peoples together rather than in isolation.
Genres: history, anthropology, non-fiction, academic, brazil
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: interconnected-narratives
Setting: Amazon, Amapa, Para
Period: 17th Century, 18th Century
376 pages · Paperback · Cambridge University Press