
Itatín () was a 17th century region, corresponding to the western half of the 21st century
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian state of
Mato Grosso do Sul
Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...
. The indigenous people (''Indians'' or ''Indios'') inhabiting the region gave their name to Itatín. The Itatínes were related to the
Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to
Ethnography
* Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia)
* Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay
* G ...
who lived to their south in
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. In 1631, the
Jesuit Order
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...
of the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
church began founding missions in Itatín but the missions failed in 1648 because of slave raids by the
Bandeirantes
''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...
of Brazil and revolts against the Jesuits. Considered part of colonial Paraguay, Itatín was ceded to Brazil in 1750 by the
Treaty of Madrid. The name has fallen out of use.
Geography
The Itatín region is roughly from north to south and the same distance from east to west. It is bordered by the
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...
on the west, the
Maracaju Mountains on the east, the vast
Pantanal
The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...
wetland to the north, and the
Apa River on the south. The climate is tropical and the vegetation ranges from
tropical rain forest
Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
to
savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
grassland.
The Itatín was important for the existence of a ford across the Paraguay River about south of the present day city of
Corumbá
Corumbá () is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 112,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, ani ...
. Called the Jesuit's Ford (''Paso de las Jesuitas'') the river dropped to a depth of only during the dry season months of November to January. Use of this ford by the Itatínes and other Indians pre-dated the Jesuits. The ford marked the beginning of the easiest route across the
Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...
region to
Chiquitos in
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
and to the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
, the homeland of the
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
in Peru and Bolivia. The ford was first used by Europeans in 1524 when
Aleixo Garcia
Aleixo Garcia, also known in Spanish as Alejo García, (died 1525) was a Portuguese explorer and conquistador in service to Spain. He was a castaway who lived in Brazil and explored Paraguay and Bolivia. On a raiding expedition with a Guaraní ...
joined a party of Guaraní journeying westwards to pillage the wealth of the Incas. Jesuits missions in Itatín near the ford had the objectives of facilitating access to their missions in Peru and Bolivia and enabling them to evangelize the Chiquitos people.
Jesuit missions
Early Spanish explorations of the Itatín were prompted by an objective of finding a route to Peru. In 1609 the Jesuits began establishing missions in the
Guayrá region of Brazil, southeast of Itatín. Slave raids by
Bandeirantes
''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...
from Brazil made those missions untenable. Looking for alternatives the Jesuits moved the Guayrá missions southwest and explored new mission fields. In 1631, a Jesuit priest named Jacobo Ransonnier journeyed to Itatín where a small Spanish settlement existed at
Santiago de Jerez (near present-day
Aquidauana Aquidauana is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It takes its name from the river with which the name is shared.
The first European settlers were imperial soldiers who arrived during the Paraguayan War and were t ...
). The Itatínes were suspicious; they had been raided previously by Bandeirantes, apparently with the assistance of Portuguese priests, or laymen impersonating priests. Neverthess, Ransonnier with other Jesuits succeeded in establishing missions along the
Miranda River, by gaining the confidence of a local
cacique
A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...
, Nianduabusuvius (Nanduabuçu). Bandeirantes raids continued, however, often with the assistance of Spanish colonists who also desired Indian slave labor. Nainduabusuvius himself was captured in 1642 along with 1,000 Christianized Indians who were taken away to work as slaves in coastal Brazil.
In 1644, the Itatínes revolted and threatened and abused several Jesuits. The Jesuits lured Nianduabusuvius' son and two nephews into a trap and executed them, but the Jesuits could not recoup their position in Itatín. In 1648, the prominent Bandeirante
Antonio Raposo Tavares completed the destruction of the Jesuit missions and the expulsion of the Spanish from Itatín.
Moreover, the Jesuit objective of opening a route from Itatín to Peru failed. Two Jesuits crossed the Paraguay River in 1645 and headed west across the Gran Chaco. They were captured and executed by the
Guaycurus, probably the people later known as the
Mbayá who were becoming nomadic horsemen. Some Itatínes especially the anti-Jesuit
shamans
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...
had fled the missions and assisted the Guaycurus. Many of the Itatínes and other Guaranì were migrating west during this period, a pull factor being the wealth of the former Inca Empire and a push factor being to escape the Bandeirantes and the Spanish colonists. In 1661, in a counter movement, some Mbayá migrated east of the Paraguay River and displaced many of the Itatin. For the next 100 years the expanding Mbayá and their subjects, the
Guaná, plus the surviving Itatin, controlled Itatín.
Access to the Itatín region was also hindered during the 18th century by the
Payagua, a riverine people related to the Mbayá who lived along the Paraguay River. The Payagua fought and won many battles with prospectors attempting to reach gold mines north of Itatín via the Paraguay River.
The 21st century survivors of the Itatín people are likely the
Guarayos in Bolivia and the
Guarani-Kaiowá and
Pai Tavytera of Brazil and Paraguay.
Notes
Regions of South America
Bibliography
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*{{cite web , title=Francisco Jose Sanchez Labrador , url=https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/15236/francisco-jose-sanchez-labrador , website=Real Academia de la Historia , access-date=25 April 2022 , ref={{sfnref, Francisco Jose Sanchez Labrador
Guaraní people
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis
Jesuit history in South America
Mato Grosso do Sul