Displacements and State Building: The Use of Passports and the Administrative Evolution of the Johannine State in Brazil (1808-1822)

ABSTRACT The control of the displacement of people using passports at the beginning of the contemporary Era was a central activity in the effort to build the State. By studying the period comprised by the Johannine administration in Brazil (1808-22), the article presents a window to understand the evolution of the State, the international displacements of women and slaves from Rio de Janeiro and the diffuse feeling of national belonging in South America.