THE INHABITANTS OF THE RIVER AND THE RELIGIOUS MISSIONS IN THE SERTAO: THE LANDSCAPE OF THE RIO SAO FRANCISCO - OROCO, PE - BRAZIL

At the beginning of the brazilian portuguese colonization, the Sao Francisco Valley was inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples. The indian area in the middle course of the river, when colonizers arrived, was composed of populations generally called by the chroniclers as Tapuia and Kariri. The work of catechizing in the region initiated by the seventeenth century, the first missions dating back to 1671. The religious missions and indigenous occupations that made of the Sao Francisco not only a route, but living spaces, were the paths used here to understand a little about the landscape that makes up the islands, understanding them as part of past stories reflected as a result of its use. This research proposes through a thorough literature survey, specific interventions in the field and a landscape archeology approach, to understand what were the religious missions that made of the Sao Francisco Valley, great routes of indigenous indoctrination, inserting such approaches and discussions from the perspective of a archeology of missions that dialogues with indigenous history. The same is of fundamental importance not only to fill the gaps in the particular history of the islands, but to understand the dynamics of occupation of the region as a whole.