Os custos da monopolização da mineração dos diamantes: as despesas da real extração de 1773 a 1779

Abstract

In this dissertation we will address the Royal Extraction of diamonds, an institution created by the Portuguese Crown in 1771 and active from 1772, to carry out diamond mining in the Diamond District, based in Arraial do Tejuco. We will have a time frame of six years, consisting of two three-year periods that are from 1773 to 1775 and from 1777 to 1779, and such milestones were delimited by the documentation found in the Overseas Historical Archive, since the other years of operation of the institution were not located. To do this, we will carry out a qualitative analysis of the documents found, seeking to highlight each expense and income from those years, as well as approaching a series of authors who deal with the economy and the history of Real Extraction, covering both authors from the time and more recent research. In addition, we will also address the costs and issues surrounding the choice of mines to be worked, seeking to relate this decision to nature's interference in productivity and the availability of diamonds in each service. These elements generated a very large variation in the mines that were mined annually, with only seven being worked in the six years investigated.