Take down or preserving the real forests: the debate on forest policies in the captaincy of Ceará (1797-1806)

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the portuguese government began to implement a series of measures in the form of legislation that, in practical terms, sought to curb the continuous felting of trees executed by farmers wishing for spaces aimed at agriculture. Such initiatives were aimed at preserving certain qualities of plants potentially useful for the navy (naval and merchant) and civil construction. Initially, the first adopted rules reached only a few capitanias, such as Bahia, Ilhéus and Rio de Janeiro, when, finally, the crown decides to extend the orders to all others. This legislative ensemble, known as the regiment of the Conservatoria das Reaes Matas, was a legal device used by the government to account for its desires. It is about this phenomenon that occurred in the passage of the aforementioned centuries that we will stop at the next pages, presenting the forms and consequences that these laws had in the Captaincy of Ceará.