POSSES ILEGAIS EM TERRAS INDÍGENAS PAULISTAS (1840-1855).

The Regulation on the missions of catechesis and civilization of the Indians (1845) and the Land Law (1850) dealt with structural issues of the Brazilian state: land, labor and colonization. The legal disputes around the land necessarily passed through the indigenous question. This article presents some reflections on the first moments of application of such laws in the province of São Paulo. Thus, we seek to relate the policy of territorial concentration of indigenous populations in restricted territories, the aldeamentos, with the progressive process of territorial appropriation by the State and private property. Thereby territorial disputes demonstrate how illegal possessions over indigenous areas were treated with connivance by the imperial authorities. For their part, indigenous peoples sought legal resources to assert their rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]