Glossary
Mariana: Mariana was the first city, state capital, and for centuries one of the main cities of Minas Gerais due to gold mining in the 18th century. Today, it is an important tourist destination because it retains the characteristics of a baroque city with its churches, buildings and museums. Its economy is still heavily concentrated on mining as it has large iron and manganese mines, including those belonging to Samarco. 1
Candonga: Risoleta Neves Hydroelectric Power Plant (also known by its old name, Candonga) was one of the hydroelectric power plants affected by the Doce River disaster; it has since been shut down. It is located at the border between the municipalities of Rio Doce and Santa Cruz do Escalvado.
Caboclo Bernardo: Bernardo Brumatti José dos Santos, also known as Caboclo Bernardo lived between 1859 and 1914. He was a fisherman who, in 1887, saved 128 lives from the shipwreck of the Brazilian Navy’s Imperial Marine Cruiser. After this feat he was decorated by Princess Isabel. Since then, he has been part of the local popular culture, which includes an annual party and a play performed in his name. He is even honoured in some Umbanda Temples in the region and in Minas Gerais. 4
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Caboclo: The primary meaning is mestizo, a person of mixed Amerindian and European ancestry. It may also be used to refer to any Indigenous Brazilian who is assimilated. Additionally, it may just refer to a hillbilly. Caboclo can also refer to entities related to forests and herbal knowledge constantly present in some religions with African roots, such as Umbanda. 3
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Botocudo: Generic designation given by the Portuguese colonizers to various Indigenous ethnic groups belonging to the macro-jê linguistic family, with different linguistic affiliations and geographic regions, whose members used ear and labial wooden discs. During the first centuries of colonization, they were present in the present-day states of Minas Gerais, Bahia and Espírito Santo and were responsible for the economic failure of the former hereditary captaincies of Ilhéus and Porto Seguro. Originally very present in the region of the Doce River valley, they have been decimated; today their population is restricted to a few groups, among them the Krenak. 5
