alqueire:
Unit of dry measure equivalent to approx. 13.8 litres; also used as equivalent of planted land, theoretically equivalent to the amount of grain a given plot could yield.
arroba:
Unit of weight, variable but usually equivalent to 32 lbs.
bairro rural:
Often translated as “rural neighborhood,” just as often shortened to bairro; may refer to tiny hamlet, substantive settlement, or rural district encompassing several properties, including large estates and their individual teams of resident workers.
bandeira:
Literally, flag; by extension, militia company; used in reference to some seventeenth-century expeditions to the wilderness at the time and more generally since then.
bandeirante:
Invented eighteenth-century term for participants in so-called bandeiras.
bastardo (fem. bastarda):
Offspring of white father and Indian mother, considered closer to Indian population.
braça:
Unit of linear measure equivalent to 2.2 meters.
compadrio:
Ritual coparentage established through baptismal rite.
crioulo:
Literally “creole”; used most often in Brazil’s colonial and early national eras to describe a slave (African or Indian) born in captivity.
ladino:
Used to refer to a slave (African or Indian) who had been “seasoned.”
lingua geral:
Tupi-Guarani lingua franca, developed largely by Jesuits, used in colonial-era relations with Tupian peoples.
mamaluco (fem. mamaluca; variation, mameluco, mameluca):
Offspring of white father and Indian mother, considered closer to white population.
mestiço:
Refers to person or persons of mixed ancestry.
Paulista:
Refers to person or persons of the settler society of the São Paulo region.
planalto:
Plateau, tableland; in southeastern Brazil during colonial era, inland region of township of São Paulo and points north and west, excluding Paraíba River valley region to east.
roça:
Agricultural plot planted in subsistence crops, especially maize and manioc.
sertão (plural sertões):
Wilderness, backlands, distinct from povoado (area of established settlement).
sesmaria:
Land grant, from Crown, proprietary governor, or representatives thereof; may refer to grant itself as well as land so bestowed.