Paper short abstract:

This project aims to reflect on the role of chambers of the Mines during the first half of the 18th century, trying to analyze the management of local issues and the management of metropolitan demands, understanding that they presented themselves as opportunities for negotiations and conflicts.

Paper long abstract:

The present work is part of a doctoral research under the guidance of Professor Dr. Junia Furtado, and has as one of its goals to reflect on the activities of local power in Minas in the first half of the 18th century.

The analysis will be divided into two phases: Initially enlightening about the early years of the implementation of royal power over auriferous areas, seeking to show the importance of the Senate chamber in the process of implementation of metropolitan authority overseas, and a second time

It will seek to analyze the management performed by the chamber in a more consolidated position as an administrative institution.

The chamber, formed by members of the local elite, was the organ responsible for the organizing of society and the governance of the empire as well, which meant the management of the municipality and the administration of metropolitan demands in the locality. Therefore, to enlighten the thinking about the role of municipal councils it will seek to reflect on the concept of a negotiated authority from the reality of the chambers. I understand that these were not just opportunities of negotiation, but also of conflicts that were processed among the members of the elite themselves, as well as tensions between the local power and the Portuguese Crown. For this, it will rely on the documentation that is in the Public Archives of the state of Minas Gerais, at the Historical Archives of the Municipality of Mariana and the Overseas Historical Archive.