Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

84 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO
‘all the negros and mulattos’ that ‘entertain themselves in capoeiragem games’ in seven different locations
in the city. 77
The most interesting information on gang rituals provided by insiders dates only from the final years of
the Empire. Capoeira gangs constituted a kind of secret society of predominantly young, black or coloured
lower-class males in a hostile environment dominated by white and mestizo slave owners. The clandestine
character of the maltas implies that many aspects of their organization will probably never be known and it
is therefore extremely difficult to assess on what principles of solidarities they were built upon. According
to most sources the gangs were organized on the basis of territoriality. 78
The control over a specific territory, usually around a church square and its neighbourhood, became the
key feature of gang identity, and maybe for that reason capoeira gangs also described themselves as a
‘house’ or a ‘province’. Their names often derived from particular churches or parishes: the capoeiras from
São Francisco de Paula called themselves Franciscanos, those from Santa Luzia Luzianos, and the gang
located around the Jesuit church in the Castelo area Santo Inácio. 79 The defence of their territory against
intruders from rival maltas was the origin of many confrontations that ended with heavy casualties—
wounded and dead—on both sides. The very square around which the malta had coalesced often provided
the battleground.
During the 1860s the organization of the capoeira gangs suffered severe disruption due to the heavy draft
for war. As the Brazilian Empire engaged in its first international conflict since the 1820s, it quickly became
evident that its army and navy were not well prepared for the war. In order to avoid the risk of military
rebellions, which had seriously jeopardized political stability during the independence period, the standing
army had been significantly reduced during the 1830s. Now the imperial government needed to expand its
armed forces rapidly in order to face the well-trained and equipped army of the Paraguayan caudillo López.
The Brazilian government relied on three complementary devices to boost its standing armed forces. Taking
advantage of the patriotic feelings and manifestations unequalled since the period of independence,
battalions of ‘Voluntaries of the Fatherland’ were constituted in every province. 54,000 volunteers from all
over the Empire thus fought in Paraguay. The National Guard, the citizens’ militia created in the 1830s to
maintain law and order in every province, were also asked to serve in the campaign, and almost 60,000 of
them were sent to the battlefields. The government furthermore resorted to compulsory recruitment and also
enlisted slaves, who were promised freedom in exchange for their service to the fatherland. At least a
further 8,500 freedmen and coerced recruits thus complemented the ranks of the Brazilian armed forces in
Paraguay. 80
The war against Paraguay (1865–1870) represents a major, and underestimated, watershed in Brazilian
cultural history. By naming countless squares and streets after battle sites of the war, the authorities wanted
to ensure that the glorious achievements of the Brazilian armed forces were forever remembered. Since then,
names such as Paissandu, Humaitá, Tuiuti, Riachuelo, Curuzu, and Aquidabã figure prominently in the
Brazilian urban landscape. The war had also number of important social consequences. Brazilians from very
different backgrounds and regions intermingled in the barracks and on the battlefields. Veterans expected,
and to a large extent enjoyed, esteem and admiration from the wider population, even if they were former
slaves. In Rio de Janeiro alone, 2,900 slaves were freed because of their participation in the war, the great
majority of them being granted their freedom during the years 1867–1868. 81 Among them were,
undoubtedly, numerous capoeiras. This was also the case for many free males drafted into the army.
The police chief and recruiting agents had made clear they wanted to use recruitment to clean the city of
its capoeiras, and it appears that in this they were relatively successful—at least for the time of the conflict.
The War therefore seems to have seriously disrupted the capoeira gang structure. T.J.Desch-Obi claims that
it was for this reason foreign immigrants were able to make forays into the world of the maltas, and that the