On 3 September 1759, the Portuguese Crown promulgated a law proscribing and expelling the Society of Jesus from Portugal and its overseas domains. In Brazil, Jesuits had held extensive mission estates and administered Indigenous settlements; their expulsion transferred institutions and property into new colonial arrangements. Mission life could protect some Indigenous people from private settlers while also imposing conversion and labor discipline. The decree thus shifted colonial authority without ending the coercion of Indigenous people or the enslavement of Africans. It illustrates why church and Crown records must be read from the standpoint of those whose labor and land were administered.
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Did the 1759 Jesuit expulsion end coercion in Brazil?
The expulsion changed colonial authority without ending coercion.
The expulsion of Jesuits in 1759 immediately ended forced labor in missions.
Colonial control and labor coercion continued under new authorities.