Black pearls in Little Africa

Abstract

The village of Tejuco, now the town of Diamantina, was the center of the Diamond District in the Northeast of the captaincy of Minas Gerais. The aim of this article is to unveil, using a census and a map from around 1774, some of the layers of the feminine geography of the social life of the village. This reveals a more dynamic and plural configuration of Tejuco, where a significant number of people of color, mostly black African women, were heads of household. Their presence transformed Tejuco into a Little Africa.