RevoltatFortColigny

In November 1555, France's official colonizing expedition landed in Guanabara Bay, with ambitions of expanding French territorial dominion. However, just a few months later, on February 14, 1556, a conspiracy shook the Crown's plans. The goal of the mutiny was to assassinate the mission's commander, Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon.

Portrait of Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon (1510-1571), Vice-Admiral of France. N.d. Author unidentified. Wikimedia Commons.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. At the center is an oval portrait of Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, Vice-Admiral of France. He is wearing armor with ornamental details and a chain necklace. Around the portrait is a circular ornament formed by leaves and ribbon bows.

Since his arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Villegagnon demanded that the colonists work strenuously on the construction of a fortress — Fort Coligny. The working conditions generated widespread dissatisfaction among the subordinates. But that wasn't the only thing that outraged the colonists: France's vice-admiral forbade sexual encounters between his men and the native women. Chastity could only be broken once the indigenous women were baptized and it was sealed by marriage under the vows of the Catholic Church. The penalty for failing to comply with the rule: the gallows.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. It shows an island with several buildings and human figures. On the left side, there is a large rock with vegetation. In the center, there is a fortification with a building in front of it. On the right, there is a small house and more rocks. In the background, there is a ship. In the lower portion, several boats are sailing. In the upper left corner, it reads "Riviere de Ganabara." In the lower right corner, there is a stamp from the National Library of France.

Besides the newcomers to Guanabara Bay, some twenty other Frenchmen — most of them shipwreck survivors from earlier vessels — had long been living among the Tupinambás. The so-called truchments served as mediators between their compatriots and the native peoples. French by birth, these men remained subjects of the Crown and, by extension, were under the authority of France's vice-admiral. By that point, however, they were more attached to the habits acquired on the new continent than to French military discipline and the dogmas of Catholicism. Suddenly threatened with death unless they converted their wives, baptized their children, abandoned polygamy, and formalized their marital unions with the Church's blessing, the truchments led an uprising against Villegagnon.

They decided on a surprise attack and were counting on the support of a member of the commander's personal guard — which would be essential to carrying out the plot. However, he changed his mind, and the scheme was suppressed. In the end, only one of those involved was hanged and another imprisoned. Most of the truchments managed to escape back to their tabas and were not pursued. Villegagnon pardoned the other rebels, for, according to him, "if I wanted to punish with torture all those who were involved in the conspiracy, there would not be enough left to finish the work we have undertaken."