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Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians
Published alongside its sequel, “ Amazon Frontier” , this book tells the story of the colonial conquest of Brazil and its terrible consequences for the native tribes.
Paperback
Published January 1, 1995
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About the author
John Hemming
64 books48 followersDr. John Hemming, CMG is one of the world's experts on Brazilian Indians, the Amazon environment, the Incas, Peruvian archaeology, The Royal Geographical Society, and the history of exploration generally. He is also Chairman of Hemming Group Ltd., a company that publishes trade magazines and organises trade exhibitions and conferences.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 12, 2020
“Red Gold, The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500-1760” (first published in 1978) is a fine book written by an academic for the general public that to which I am awarding five stars despite that the fact that the author often fails to provide much needed assistance to his reader. Hemming also fails to draw conclusions. To find out what his views on the history of the Brazilian Indians are, one needs to read in addition “Amazon Frontier” (published in 1994) and which covers the period from 1760 to 1910. One needs to read both books to obtain a complete thesis and coherent argument.
Hemming spends a great deal of time chronicling Indian deaths resulting from European diseases and aggression, but he waits until his appendix at the end of the book to say that his estimate of the Indian population in 1500 was 2.4 million. He concludes his appendix by saying that by the 1970’s only 100,000 Indians still survived in Brazil. To find out how many Indians were living in Brazil in 1760 one must read “Amazon Frontier” where he puts the number at 2.0 million. “Amazon Frontier” puts the Indian population 1.0 million in 1910 where its narrative ends. Hemming then never describes the decline of 900,000 in the Indian population that occurred between 1910 and the 1970s.
For someone who as the director of secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, from 1975 to 1996, Hemming’s use of maps is ludicrous. While his major thrust is to describe the catastrophic decline in the population of Brazil’s Indians as Portuguese settlement advanced, he never illustrates this advance on any map. He simply describes the results in those cases where contemporary sources exist that allow him to do so. Similarly, there are no maps to show where the different Indian tribes were dominant. He vaguely describes cattle raising as having dominate the north-east but does not show the area of cattle ranching on any map. Also, Hemming discusses the impact on the Indian population of a gold rush that took place Minas Gerais but does indicate exactly where in the state of Minas Gerais the goldfields were.
For the period from 1500 to 1760 Brazil’s Indians were unable to provide any written documents as their own languages were purely oral and their literacy skills in Portuguese were extremely rudimentary. Thus, Hemming had to rely on European sources. The largest body of writings came from the Jesuits while the French Calvinist missionary also left a very important account of his stay in Brazil from March 1557 to January 1558. With generally only one chronicle per event, Hemming is generally not able to challenge much of what his sources say. He chooses then to cite the contemporary chronicles at great length so as to letter the readers draw their conclusions about the written record. Hemming’s approach has the merit of neither distorting nor creating facts. The reader however is left with the distrusting realization that much of what happened in the past is and will remain unknown.
The Jesuits dominate Hemming’s story not only because they created most of the written record because they were the only force that consistently resisted the efforts of the settlers to enslave or massacre the Indians. Hemming however has criticism for the Jesuits. The Jesuits indeed opposed massacres and defended the Indians on their estates from aggression. However, the Jesuits continually launched expeditions into the interior to gather Indians to live on their plantations. Unfortunately, European diseases killed far more Indians than European muskets. The Jesuits for all their benevolent intentions may have killed as many or more Indians than settler bullets.
Hemming’s book is rich in detail and prudent in its conclusion. It is highly recommended for any reader interested in the topic. To reap its full value however one must also read Hemming’s “Amazon Frontier.”
Hemming spends a great deal of time chronicling Indian deaths resulting from European diseases and aggression, but he waits until his appendix at the end of the book to say that his estimate of the Indian population in 1500 was 2.4 million. He concludes his appendix by saying that by the 1970’s only 100,000 Indians still survived in Brazil. To find out how many Indians were living in Brazil in 1760 one must read “Amazon Frontier” where he puts the number at 2.0 million. “Amazon Frontier” puts the Indian population 1.0 million in 1910 where its narrative ends. Hemming then never describes the decline of 900,000 in the Indian population that occurred between 1910 and the 1970s.
For someone who as the director of secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, from 1975 to 1996, Hemming’s use of maps is ludicrous. While his major thrust is to describe the catastrophic decline in the population of Brazil’s Indians as Portuguese settlement advanced, he never illustrates this advance on any map. He simply describes the results in those cases where contemporary sources exist that allow him to do so. Similarly, there are no maps to show where the different Indian tribes were dominant. He vaguely describes cattle raising as having dominate the north-east but does not show the area of cattle ranching on any map. Also, Hemming discusses the impact on the Indian population of a gold rush that took place Minas Gerais but does indicate exactly where in the state of Minas Gerais the goldfields were.
For the period from 1500 to 1760 Brazil’s Indians were unable to provide any written documents as their own languages were purely oral and their literacy skills in Portuguese were extremely rudimentary. Thus, Hemming had to rely on European sources. The largest body of writings came from the Jesuits while the French Calvinist missionary also left a very important account of his stay in Brazil from March 1557 to January 1558. With generally only one chronicle per event, Hemming is generally not able to challenge much of what his sources say. He chooses then to cite the contemporary chronicles at great length so as to letter the readers draw their conclusions about the written record. Hemming’s approach has the merit of neither distorting nor creating facts. The reader however is left with the distrusting realization that much of what happened in the past is and will remain unknown.
The Jesuits dominate Hemming’s story not only because they created most of the written record because they were the only force that consistently resisted the efforts of the settlers to enslave or massacre the Indians. Hemming however has criticism for the Jesuits. The Jesuits indeed opposed massacres and defended the Indians on their estates from aggression. However, the Jesuits continually launched expeditions into the interior to gather Indians to live on their plantations. Unfortunately, European diseases killed far more Indians than European muskets. The Jesuits for all their benevolent intentions may have killed as many or more Indians than settler bullets.
Hemming’s book is rich in detail and prudent in its conclusion. It is highly recommended for any reader interested in the topic. To reap its full value however one must also read Hemming’s “Amazon Frontier.”
May 17, 2024
191115: effect of european contact on technologically primitive peoples throughout the world from 1500 to 1750?
short answer: not good.
long answer: this book. at least on the evidence of portuguese, some french, dutch, spaniards, on the native populations of brazil, with the usual pattern of happy greeting, happy trading, followed by enslavement (red gold is here 'indian' bodies), war, disease, disease, war... religious schooling, european settlers, enslaving populace... war, disease, war, disease... genocide, genocide, cultural obliteration, deception, betrayal, lying in all its forms. and who will write your history when you are gone? this is a long book, an unhappy history, academic perhaps, certainly well-researched(150 pages of notes), which stimulates me to think of who/what i would have been in such times, in such places- as native, as trader, as explorer, as european settler, as corrupt governor, as earnest member of european religious order...
short answer: not good.
long answer: this book. at least on the evidence of portuguese, some french, dutch, spaniards, on the native populations of brazil, with the usual pattern of happy greeting, happy trading, followed by enslavement (red gold is here 'indian' bodies), war, disease, disease, war... religious schooling, european settlers, enslaving populace... war, disease, war, disease... genocide, genocide, cultural obliteration, deception, betrayal, lying in all its forms. and who will write your history when you are gone? this is a long book, an unhappy history, academic perhaps, certainly well-researched(150 pages of notes), which stimulates me to think of who/what i would have been in such times, in such places- as native, as trader, as explorer, as european settler, as corrupt governor, as earnest member of european religious order...
May 22, 2019
Certainly one of the best summaries of early Brazil and why it is shaped how it is today. Essentially it was the aggressive Portuguese movements pushing up the rivers from southern Brazil and circling back out the mouth of the Amazon.
Hemming gives as good of an account as possible given the relatively limited early accounts. The extent to which many tribes along the coasts and in the mineral rich areas were driven out of existence is still astonishing. Good summary of the different groups of Europeans involved, the colonists, the bandeirantes, the Jesuits, the Spanish, The English, the Dutch, the French and how changing policies and economic conditions drove activities and conflicts in Brazil.
The descriptions of conflicts and early tribes are surprisingly extensive for such a condensed book.
Hemming gives as good of an account as possible given the relatively limited early accounts. The extent to which many tribes along the coasts and in the mineral rich areas were driven out of existence is still astonishing. Good summary of the different groups of Europeans involved, the colonists, the bandeirantes, the Jesuits, the Spanish, The English, the Dutch, the French and how changing policies and economic conditions drove activities and conflicts in Brazil.
The descriptions of conflicts and early tribes are surprisingly extensive for such a condensed book.
January 14, 2017
A history of the indigenous people of modern-day Brazil from Columbian-era contact to the Pombaline expulsion of the Jesuit missionaries. Red Gold makes good armchair reading and fills a gaping academic hole, but it's an unreliable scholarly source, as Hemming often misquotes dissenting sources to prove his overreaching point.
June 11, 2020
De geschiedenis van de uitrooiing van de Indianen in Bazilië. Het oude verhaal van de 16de tot de 18de eeuw eeuw gaat nog steeds verder met de actuele politiek waar de weinige stammen in de Amazone uit hun gebieden worden verdreven om de grote bedrijven de vrije kans te laten om de uitbuitingspolitiek verder te zetten.
August 1, 2019
I really want to finish this but it's SO DENSE I think i'll have to come back to it someday.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews