The mercantile forest: timber exploration

and social hierarchies in the captaincy of Ilhéus in the

eighteenth century

Marcelo Henrique Dias

Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz

Analysis of the processes of extraction and trade of hardwood in the territory of the

captaincy of Ilhéus in the Colonial Brazil, especially from the moment the Portuguese Crown

started to operate this business directly (1715). The analysis will fall on the scale, the

administrative mechanisms, the destination of trade and its importance throughout the regional

economy. Are also approached issues of political and economic actors that forestry economy,

whereas the same constituted an regional elite, beneficiaries who were a constant flow of

resources in the Royal Treasury Board intended to ensure the service of the orders from Royal

Arsenals of Lisbon and Dockyard of Salvador.

Keywords: hardwood; captaincy of Ilhéus; forestry; regional elite.