Guarani protagonism in the southern portion of Southern Brazil: the ñande reko in territories of hydrographic basis of the rivers Iequí and Caií in the year 1635

Abstract

In the 17th century, the Society of Jesus entered areas belonging to the current Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, entering the river basins of the Iequí (Pardo) and Caii (Caí), where Guarani partialities established alliances with Jesuits. However, not every Guarani accepted the colonial project, like the spiritual leaderships who refuted approaches with the priests. The goal of this study is to analyze the performance of leaderships such as Tayubai and Apyçaire who declared war on the priests in the name of the ñande reko Guarani in territories of the rivers Iequí and Caií in the year 1635. The methodology is qualitative and descriptive, based on the ethno-historical analysis of the 1635 Ânua. The paper analyzed two events that occurred next to the Jesuit reductions of the Iequí river and in the territories of the Caii river, when Guarani parties clashed with the Jesuits. In the first event, priest Mendonza is assassinated by partialities led by Tayubai, in the second event other partialities attacked the reduction of Jesus Maria in the Iequí river. In view of this, it was found that not all Guarani natives accepted the Jesuits near their territories, because they evaluated the contact from their cultural parameters, not agreeing with the teachings of the parents.