Sources and historiography: conceptualizations of contraband trade in colonial Brazil

Abstract

Smuggling is a difficult topic for Brazilian historians. No historian of colonial Brazil has devoted a book solely to the topic of contraband trade yet. The reason for this is partly related to the supposed lack of documentation about this issue. This problem with sources notwithstanding, historians have debated the importance of contraband trade. Their understanding of illegal trade has changed over time, and many historians’ views of colonial society in general, and smuggling in particular, is closely related to how Brazilians consider themselves.