Before Brasília: frontier life in central Brazil

Introduction

Part one. Contacts and conquests. Into the "heart of Brazil" : landscapes of contact and decimation

The indigenous nations of central Brazil

Bandeiras and entradas : the invaders of central Brazil

Indigenous warfare and peacemaking

Part two. Colonial society : whites, pardos, and blacks. "Good order" : structures of empire

The white propertied elites of the captaincy of Goiás

"Masters of the dance" : enslaved Africans and crioulos

Part three. Points of contact and culture change. People of the Holy Spirit : Christians and their sacred spaces

Shadows in the night : women and gender relations

Defenders of the conquest and useful vassals : the free people of color

Conclusion : reflections on frontiers/borderlands of central Brazil

Appendix A. Indigenous nations of central Brazil

Appendix B. Censuses

Appendix C. Colonial churches and lay brotherhoods in the captaincy of Goiás.