When the wolfbane blooms...

Feb. 16, 2012 at 2:00pm with 43 notes

Reblogged from brazilwonders

brazilwonders:

Cangaço is the name given to a form of “social banditry” in the Northeast of Brazil in late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hardships, and in a form of reaction against the domination of the land owners and the government, many men and women decided to become nomadic bandits, roaming the hinterlands seeking money, food and revenge.
By 1834, the term cangaceiro was already used to refer to bands of poor peasants who inhabited the northeastern deserts, wearing leather clothing and hats, carrying carbines, revolvers, shotguns, and long narrow knives known as peixeiras.
“Cangaceiro” was a pejorative expression, meaning a person who could not adapt himself to the coastal lifestyle.
By this time in that region, there were two main groups of loosely organized armed outlaws: the jagunços, mercenaries who worked for whoever paid their price, usually land-owners who wanted to protect or expand their territorial limits and also deal with farm workers; and the cangaceiros, “social bandits”, who had some level of support from the poorest population: the bandits sustained some beneficial behaviors such as acts of charity, and the population provided shelter and information which helped them escape from police forces, known as volantes, sent by the government to stop them.

Cangaço is the name given to a form of “social banditry” in the Northeast of Brazil in late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hardships, and in a form of reaction against the domination of the land owners and the government, many men and women decided to become nomadic bandits, roaming the hinterlands seeking money, food and revenge.

By 1834, the term cangaceiro was already used to refer to bands of poor peasants who inhabited the northeastern deserts, wearing leather clothing and hats, carrying carbines, revolvers, shotguns, and long narrow knives known as peixeiras.

“Cangaceiro” was a pejorative expression, meaning a person who could not adapt himself to the coastal lifestyle.

By this time in that region, there were two main groups of loosely organized armed outlaws: the jagunços, mercenaries who worked for whoever paid their price, usually land-owners who wanted to protect or expand their territorial limits and also deal with farm workers; and the cangaceiros, “social bandits”, who had some level of support from the poorest population: the bandits sustained some beneficial behaviors such as acts of charity, and the population provided shelter and information which helped them escape from police forces, known as volantes, sent by the government to stop them.