Corporações, bandeiras e confrarias mecânicas no Brasil colonial – 1549-1808: a técnica de construção dos engenhos de açúcar na América portuguesa

Resumo

Most of the history of work in colonial Brazil focuses on studies related to slavery, and leave aside the free workers, who were called mechanical officers. Even if they were of vital importance to the colony, the work and the knowledge generated by the mechanical official are underexplored and not currently studied. Therefore we intend to understand the organization, importance and knowledge of these professionals, as well as their social and cultural impacts. However, the main focus of this study revolves around the understanding of the techniques used by different mechanical officers of colonial Brazil, specifically those techniques employed in the construction of sugar mills. This is a study of the History of Science (As predicted in Rossi, 1987).