From Enemies to Good Friends? The Camacã and Baron Fernando Steiger in the Framework of the Interiorization of Colonization in the Bahia Province

Abstract This article deals with sociopolitical tensions and ethnic relations established in the interiorization process of colonization in southern Bahia, during the second half of the nineteenth century. The aim is to analyze, through the private correspondence of the baron Fernando Steiger, the alliance that a Camacã group established with the baron in the expectation of maintaining their safety and survival in the region that was, at the time, the preferred object of provincial colonization, which deeply impacted the lives of indigenous peoples.