The Conselho Ultramarino and the Creolisation of Power
- Political organization
After the restoration in Portugal (1640) the Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council) was founded in Portugal, with the mission of proposing authorities and officials for overseas territories, namely governors, ouvidores gerais (judges), feitores (public administrators) and provedores (providers/ombudsmen).
Although this body came to play an important role in strengthening the administration in Cape Verde, its task was made more difficult by a lack of candidates for positions, particularly for three reasons: the poor climate, with severe health consequences; the insecurity caused by English, French and Dutch pirates, on land and sea, and internally by armed militias in the service of private interests; and the frequent disputes between the Câmaras, the Bishop and the Ouvidor, due to the constant need to fill positions left vacant by early death or flight of the holders. The problem was such that in the 17th Century in particular, there were long periods where these positions were simply not filled, or they accumulated in such a way as to distort the balance of the administrative structure, sometimes quite severely.
However every cloud has a silver lining, and from the third quarter of the 17th Century to the third quarter of the 18th Century, this meant that although the positions in the administration were reserved for cristãos limpos (“pure Christians”), excluding new Christians (recently converted Jews) and non-whites, these positions, particularly in the second and third tiers of public administration (accountant, distributor, inquisitor, scribe, chancellor, mayor, jailer, etc.), slowly came to be filled by new Christians and then by people of mixed race and black people. This was shown by Ouvidor-Geral, Sebastião Bravo Botelho, who wrote to the king, Don João V in 1724 describing“… black men who are known as whites, because they wear shoes and have their own property…”, referring precisely to the public functionaries of the era.
After the restoration in Portugal (1640) the Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council) was founded in Portugal, with the mission of proposing authorities and officials for overseas territories, namely governors, ouvidores gerais (judges), feitores (public administrators) and provedores (providers/ombudsmen).
Although this body came to play an important role in strengthening the administration in Cape Verde, its task was made more difficult by a lack of candidates for positions, particularly for three reasons: the poor climate, with severe health consequences; the insecurity caused by English, French and Dutch pirates, on land and sea, and internally by armed militias in the service of private interests; and the frequent disputes between the Câmaras, the Bishop and the Ouvidor, due to the constant need to fill positions left vacant by early death or flight of the holders. The problem was such that in the 17th Century in particular, there were long periods where these positions were simply not filled, or they accumulated in such a way as to distort the balance of the administrative structure, sometimes quite severely.
However every cloud has a silver lining, and from the third quarter of the 17th Century to the third quarter of the 18th Century, this meant that although the positions in the administration were reserved for cristãos limpos (“pure Christians”), excluding new Christians (recently converted Jews) and non-whites, these positions, particularly in the second and third tiers of public administration (accountant, distributor, inquisitor, scribe, chancellor, mayor, jailer, etc.), slowly came to be filled by new Christians and then by people of mixed race and black people. This was shown by Ouvidor-Geral, Sebastião Bravo Botelho, who wrote to the king, Don João V in 1724 describing“… black men who are known as whites, because they wear shoes and have their own property…”, referring precisely to the public functionaries of the era.
