Heroes of the Sertão: the bandeirantes as a symbolic category for the study of Brazilian West colonization

Abstract

This article analyzes the historical role of the bandeirante - a character redefined through the intellectual and government policy of A Marcha para o Oeste, which was adopted by the Estado Novo regime (1937-1945). The research was based on different sources such as speeches, literary narratives, Brazilian historiography, legislative decrees and other documents. Hence, we sought to identify the relationship between the image of the bandeirante as the hero of the sertão in the territorial conquest of the Brazilian frontier.