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Key-words: Captain-major, Rio Grande, Pernambuco, Jurisdiction, Conflict
This study analyzes the jurisdiction of the captain-major of the Rio Grande captaincy during the first half of the 18th century. The temporal cut chosen to be analyzed is related to the first 50 years when the captaincy was subordinated to government of Pernambuco, since the royal charter of January 11, 1701. During the first half of the eighteenth century, the captains-majors of Rio Grande conflicted several times against the governors of Pernambuco for the jurisdiction over the captaincy's government, including the main point of friction: jurisdiction over the provision of military posts and over the job provisions. Thus, the normative documents that assigned and delimited the jurisdiction of the captain-major office were analyzed: the regiments produced by governors-general during the second half of the seventeenth century (1663 and 1690) and the extravagant legislation produced by the Crown during the first decade of the eighteenth century. In a second moment, the legislation was put to test by the analysis of the relations between captains-majors and the governors of Pernambuco. It was analyzed the conflicts involving these two authorities and the provision of military posts in Rio Grande captaincy during the first half of eighteenth century, seeking the attempts of the captains-majors to maintain and conservate the jurisdiction of their office over the captaincy.