Capoeira carioca
Capoeira carioca was a street fighting version of capoeira that existed in Rio de Janeiro during the 19th century. In capoeira carioca, all available means were used, including various types of weapons, such as knives, straight razors, clubs and machetes. Capoeira from this period is also known as capoeiragem and its practitioners were referred to as capoeiras.
Rio de Janeiro was the epicentre of capoeira in the 19th century. In the early 19th century, it transmitted primarily among black slaves born in Portuguese Angola. Africans were massively present in the Rio, performing their games, celebrations, festivals. They formed their capoeira maltas, slaves "fraternal paramilitary organizations" that defended the neighborhoods.
As of the mid-19th century, capoeira was increasingly detached from its music and dancing and was essentially a criminal activity. After the Paraguayan War, the capoeiras became involved in politics. By the late 19th century, capoeirista demographics in Rio had changed significantly, with the majority being free Creoles, mixed, and whites.
The widespread violent capoeira practice in Rio de Janeiro led to a nationwide ban on capoeira. After the ban in 1890 and the subsequent mass arrests of capoeira groups, this style of capoeira was believed to be presumed extinct yet to this day is still practiced in Rio de Janeiro. Contemporary capoeira comes from the traditional capoeira Angola, preserved in Bahia.
Background
In the early 19th century, newcomers to Rio de Janeiro might mistake it for an African town. Roughly two-thirds of Rio's population had African ancestry, as nearly 80 percent of them originated from Angola. The enslaved population, initially 12,000 in 1808, rapidly expanded to over 36,000 by 1821, constituting roughly 45% of the city's residents.In 1808 prince Dom João VI, along with the royal court, moved to Rio de Janeiro. Due to city growth, more slaves were brought to manufactures. Urban slaves lived without direct supervision, and their main duty was to bring money to their master. Africans were very present in public, with frequent dances, festivals and processions. Many of their activities, such as capoeira, African religions and batuque, were suppressed and persecuted. The head of new Royal Police Guard, major Vidigal, notorious persecutor of capoeristas, was an excellent capoerista himself.
History
Capoeira was practiced in closed societies of enslaved Africans, although colonial authorities punished it harshly. The term capoeira is first mentioned in 1789, as "the gravest of crimes", in a judicial record reporting how a young man Adão was severely punished with 500 lashings for being capoeira:In capoeira groups, known as maltas, the knowledge of the capoeira was preserved and transmitted.
A violent slave game
On December 13, 1811, a capoeira group assaulted the police. These capoeiras, armed with knives, intended to forcefully take from the jail guards one of their arrested comrades.Between 1812 and 1814 Rio's capoeira saw a dramatic rise in razor use, from under five cases in 1812 to about forty in 1814. On September 30, 1812, the slave Pedro Benguela, was arrested for playing capoeira with a razor in Carioca square and sentenced to 100 lashes. In January 1813, three more capoeira players were charged: one received 200 lashes, another 50 lashes, and the third 200 lashes.
In March 1814 the police chef saw violent capoeiras in the street, in the time where the prince João was passing by. They were "with knives and sticks and with the ribbons they sometimes use to come out, causing great mayhem and shouting".
It seems that typical capoeira garments of that period included a hat and colored ribbons. Many arrested capoeiras wore colored ribbons, especially yellow and red, associated with Kongo/Angola religions. On December 13, 1814, two African slaves were arrested for playing capoeira and wearing colored ribbons. The African slave Bernardo Moçambique was arrested on March 14, 1815, for "playing capoeira, possessing a razor, and tying a red ribbon to a pole." Three days later, the enslaved African João Congo, was arrested for playing capoeira and for possessing a cane, a knife, and ribbons. They also commonly wear hats or caps. These items may have signified their ethnic identity, but it's unclear if they indicated gang affiliation.
In 1816 police reported that black capoeiras, especially in Direita Street, causing disturbances and engaging in stone-throwing during their games in the city.
On July 25, 1817, two capoeiristas, José Benguela and Joaquim Augusto, were arrested, with one in possession of a sharp knife and the other carrying a saber. In 1817, the police declared strict penalties for possession of knives, and the same for those "whistling and with sticks", including 300 lashes and three months of forced labor:
Whistling was the way capoeiristas signaled each other. In 1817 one officer required the arrest of "all the negros and mulattos" that "entertain themselves in capoeiragem games" in seven different locations in the city.
On February 4, 1818, five slaves playing capoeira were captured with a straight razors. In the same year, another African slave was arrested for playing capoeira and "wearing a white straw hat with a big yellow and red ribbon tied to its crown."
On January 15, 1819, the slave Alexander Mozambique was jailed for practicing capoeira and given a three-month sentence with 300 lashes. On November 25, 1819, the slave José Angola was arrested for playing capoeira and was recognized as a capoeira leader.
On January 3, 1820, the slave Joaquim Angola was arrested for possessing a razor and a "capoeira club". On March 20, 1820, Bernardo Mina was arrested, but his friend Estanislao tried to resist the arrest, calling on his capoeira comrades for help. They threw stones at the patrol and encircled it in an unsuccessful attempt to free the capoeiristas. On February 28, 1820, slaves Francisco Rebolo and José Ganguela were arrested "for being in a gathering of capoeiras and wearing red hats — a capoeira symbol."
In January 1821 the slave Ignácio Mossange played capoeira with a razor and was sentenced to 300 lashes and three months in the penitentiary. In December 1821, following "six deaths and many knife wounds", the Military committee demanded publicly and firmly punishing of arrested black capoeiras, caught by the military school, and opposed their release, pressured by slave owners. Between 1810 and 1821, out of 4,853 arrests, 438 were capoeira-related. On February 6, 1822, Emperor Pedro I pledged four days leave to any soldier who caught a capoeirista.
Between 1822 and 1824 the German painter Johann Moritz Rugendas described capoeira game:
On April 17, 1824, martial arts were used to rescue captured quilombo members on the outskirts of Rio City. Resolution from August 30, 1824, ordered arrested black capoeiras to work on the dam instead of being flogged. By December 1824, police reported large disruptions by black capoeiras on Sundays and holidays, leading to stabbings, injuries, and thefts.
Suppression of the mercenary revolt
In June 1828 the revolt of German and Irish mercenaries broke out. They advanced toward King's palace, sparking citywide riots by June 10. While the tradition suggests that major Vidigal called upon the capoeiras, they may simply have taken the chance to fight the foreign whites during the chaos. One of the eyewitnesses wrote:A German observer asserted that slaves gained five decades' worth of confidence in just three days, sensing their newfound power. After the mutiny was suppressed, Police Commissioner issued an edict prohibiting all blacks, especially slaves, from using any kind of weapon.
In 1829 law limited the number of lashes for a slave to fifty per day. However, exceptions were made for two major threats to the system: quilombolas and capoeiras, who were publicly whipped at pillars in Campo de Santana squares as a deterrent.
Few edicts were issued in 1830 to regulate undesirable African activities, including gatherings, games, rituals, nudity and capoeira:
On July 26, 1831, multiple capoeira groups, organized into the unit of more than 200 "blacks and mulattoes", attacked the municipal guard patrol, composed of men of status, targeting their chief. They engaged in a battle in the Catete suburb, stoning the patrol leader. Afterwards, they split into the distinct factions and dispersed in opposite directions. The reason of attack is unknown, but they were likely seeking revenge for some perceived injustice. This incident implies high level of organization within the capoeira groups. The following day, the Police Inspector General recommended training and authorizing loyal citizens to use firearms in assisting the police in apprehending capoeiras and other criminals. Soon after, the National Guard was founded.
On November 16, 1832, the police inspector reported that black capoeiras and similar individuals conceal spears and weapons in marimbas, sugarcanevpieces, and small black whip handles made locally.
In June 1833 Rio de Janeiro's Police Chief expressed concern about capoeiras' audacity, leading to stone-throwing incidents in Campo de Santana. On November 18, 1833, two black men were stabbed to death, and two wounded reported assaults by capoeiras.
Increase in capoeira violence
I did not study to be a priest
Neither to be a doctor
I did study capoeira
To beat up the inspector
Around the 1840s authorities noticed changes within the capoeira community, leading to new terminology. The terms "capoeira slaves" and "black capoeiras" were replaced with "capoeiras" and "capoeira groups." These groups were well and hierarchically organized.
From the 1840s most capoeira offenders were sent to the navy. On March 3, 1842, the police commissioner wrote to the admiral that the sending of five capueristas to the navy may cause a great revolt:
On May 14, 1847, the commander of the Campo de Santana quarter, saw four capoeiras came running, waving knives and chasing a black man who was fleeing and "whistling with all his might". After they reached the border of the neighborhood, the chase stopped. In June 1849, a police patrol had trouble to arrest two capoeiras who resisted arrest with blows. After arresting them, the patrol was surrounded by their comrades stoning them.
In Rio, since 1850, Creoles, born in Brazil to African slave parents and native Portuguese speakers, began to emerge. Free Creoles and whites eventually became the capoeira gang leaders. By mid-century murder and injuries became more prevalent in the war for territory.
As per Filho, leadership status was attained only by those "whose bravery could not be overcome". Reverend James Fletcher, who visited Rio during the 1850s, characterized capoeira leaders as those with the most people killed. In 1853, the police commissioner wrote to the minister of justice about the recent mass murder in the Santa Anna parish:
In 1857 Kidder and Fletcher described capoeiras as "members of some sort of secret society, where all the glory goes to whoever destroys the most lives". On January 19, 1859, Minister of Justice stated that the capoeiras use the festival days for their "runs," commit crimes, and intentionally frighten peaceful citizens. The folklorist Mello Moraes describes how capoeiras violently interrupted public events in the mid-19th century Rio:
Some capoeiras were employed in public agencies such as the police, the fire brigade, the National Guard. On January 19, 1859, the minister complained that in their spare time many soldiers took off their uniforms and trained capoeira. In 1859, the police commissioner requested the dismissal of the violent caporeista Felisberto do Amaral from the National Guard:
Police data from the mid-19th century shows that capoeira was the main reason for the arrests:
Standard punishment for imprisoned capoeiras were whipping and forced labour in the dockyards.