Labour and free labourers: the Indians in the Rio de Janeiro Navy Arsenal, 19th century

ABSTRACT The present text proposes to recover the process of incorporating the Indians into the universe of urban labourers in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century, analyzing their presence in the Navy Arsenal. The proposal is to reintroduce the Indians on the world of labour and seeking to open new fields of debate with a historiography of African slavery. By addressing the presence of native populations in the world of Rio’s labour, it is expected to contribute to an expansion of the complexity of the concept of “free labourers” in the 19th century.