Emboabas' War

War of the Emboabas
Date 1707 - 1709 Location Modern day Minas Gerais Result Defeat of the paulistas. Creation of the Captaincy of São Paulo and Minas de Ouro
Belligerents
Bandeirantes Paulistas	European "Emboabas" "Emboabas" from Portugal and other parts of Portuguese America
Commanders and leaders
Borba Gato	Manuel Nunes Viana

The War of the Emboabas (Portuguese: Guerra dos Emboabas, "newcomers′ war") was a conflict in colonial Brazil waged in 1706-1707 and 1708-1700 over newly discovered gold fields, which had set off a rush to the region.between two generations of Portuguese settlers in the viceroyalty of Brazil - then the Captaincy of São Vicente. The discovery of gold set off a rush to the region, Paulistas asserted rights of discovery and non-Paulistas challenged their claims. Although the Portuguese crown sought more control in the area and the Paulistas sought protection of their claims, the Emoboabas won. The crown re-assessed its position in the region and made administrative changes subsequently.

Starting from the village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga (now São Paulo) the Bandeirantes had explored most of southeast and southwest of current Brazil, effectively taking advantage of the union of the Crowns of Portugal and Spain from 1580 to 1640 to incorporate all the former Spanish territories then west of the Tordesilhas Line. Their goal was to capture new Indian slaves (which put them in conflict with the Jesuit Reductions), recapture runaway slaves and find precious minerals.

Their search was rewarded in a then inaccessible area just north of their original Capitania that was to become Minas dos Matos Gerais (now Minas Gerais). The problem was that the mines, while rich, were in a vast area they could not effectively settle, so it attracted a gold rush from Portugal. The newcomers, called Emboabas, found an alternative, shorter route to the sea; the Caminho Novo das Minas dos Matos Gerais to São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro on Guanabara Bay, bypassing and alienating the original discoverers.

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