Mazagão Velho is a district and town in the

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 municipality of

Mazagão Mazagão (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the south of the state of Amapá in Brazil. Its population is 22,053 and its area is . Mazagão Velho located in the municipality of Mazagão is known for the Festival of Saint ...

, in the state of

Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil. It is in the North Region, Brazil, North Region of Brazil. It is Federative units of Brazil#List, the second-least populous state and the eighteenth-largest state by area ...

. The town was founded in 1773 by refugees from the former colony of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Mazagão Velho is known for the Festival of

São Tiago São Tiago is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. As of 2020 its population is estimated to be 10,960. Geography The municipality belongs to the Immediate Geographic Region of São João del-Rei, in ...

which takes place between 16 and 28 July, and re-enacts the war between the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

and the Christians.

History

In 1769, the Portuguese colony of

in Morocco (nowadays called El Jadida) was abandoned. A total of 2,092 inhabitants of the colony were resettled, and 1,855 were sent to

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

, Brazil where they arrived in 1770. In 1773, the town of Mazagão Velho was founded in the interior of Amapá to house the refugees. By 1777, only 343 had remained in Belém. The economy of the town was centred around rice and cotton production using

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

slave labour Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. The settlement did not prosper. The isolation in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, epidemics, and failed rice harvests led to a large part of the population leaving the town. In 1831, Mazagão Velho was removed from the list of villages. In 1841, Mazagão Velho became the capital of the municipality, however in 1915, the capital was moved to Nova do Anauerapucú which was renamed Mazagão Novo or simply Mazagão. Mazagão Velho became a district of Mazagão in 1960.

Festival of São Tiago

The Festival of

is held annually between 16 and 28 July, and re-enacts the war between the

and the Christians. The festival starts in church with a public

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, afterwards the party and re-enactment of the battle spreads throughout the village. The festival attracted a crowd of 50,000 people in 2017. In 2020, the festival was cancelled for the first time in history due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and a documentary about the festival was aired on television instead.

Transport

Mazagão Velho can be reached by the AP-010 road from

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

and

Macapá Macapá () is a city in Brazil with a population of 512,902 (2020 estimate), and is the capital of Amapá state in the country's North Region, Brazil, North Region, located on the northern channel of the Amazon Delta near its mouth on the Atlant ...

References

Bibliography

* {{authority control Populated places in Amapá Populated places established in 1773 Tourist attractions in Amapá