colony · South America

State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão

1751 CE – 1772 CE · capital Belém

Pombal's reorganised Amazon colony, ruled from Belém, where Jesuit control of indigenous peoples was ended and a monopoly company brought enslaved Africans.

Origins

In 1751 the Marquis of Pombal reorganised the State of Maranhão as the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, moving its capital from São Luís to Belém. His brother Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado became governor, charged with mapping the borders agreed with Spain in the Treaty of Madrid and asserting royal power in the Amazon.

Rule and society

Mendonça Furtado clashed with the Jesuits, who controlled indigenous villages and labour. In 1755 a law freed indigenous people from missionary rule, and from 1757 the Directorate placed their villages under lay directors and promoted Portuguese over the língua geral. The Jesuits were expelled in 1759. The General Company of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, founded in 1755, held a trade monopoly and imported enslaved Africans for cotton and rice plantations.

Decline and legacy

In 1772 the state was divided into the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and the State of Maranhão and Piauí. The trading company lost its monopoly in 1778. Its policies towards indigenous peoples shaped the Amazon for decades, and Belém remained the region's capital.

Lineage

State of Maranhão 1621 CE – 1751 CEState of Grão-Pará and Maranhão

Connections (4)

State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão was part of Colonial Brazil1751 CE – 1772 CE
State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão was a colony of Portuguese Empire1751 CE – 1772 CE
State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro split from State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão1772 CE
State of Maranhão and Piauí split from State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão1772 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-grao-para-and-maranhao
MLA: “State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-grao-para-and-maranhao. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-grao-para-and-maranhao.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-grao-para-and-maranhao (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻