Andreoni, João Antônio (1649–1716)

João Antônio Andreoni (pseud. of André João Antonil; b. 1649; d. March 13, 1716), Jesuit administrator and author of a seminal study of the economic roots of early eighteenth-century Brazil, Cultura e opulência do Brasil por suas drogas e minas (1711). Born in Tuscany and educated in law at the University of Perugia, he entered the Society of Jesus on May 20, 1667 and came to Bahia, Brazil, in 1681. There, after serving as secretary to Antônio Vieira, he became Vieira's rival and leader among German- and Italian-born Jesuits serving in Brazil. A proficient Latinist and a keen administrator, he held a succession of posts in the Society of Jesus, from minister of novices to rector of the college at Bahia, and served both as provincial Visitor and as provincial. Unlike Vieira, he sided with the settlers in their efforts to obtain Indian labor and, again unlike Vieira, he was anti-Semitic. But he is best known for his unique and outstanding treatise concerning the sources of Brazil's wealth—sugar, tobacco, gold, and cattle. He died in Bahia.

See alsoJesuits .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Serafim Leite, História da companhia de Jesús no Brasil, 10 vols. (Rio de Janeiro, 1938–1950).

Andrée Mansuy, ed., Cultura e opulência do Brasil por suas drogas e minas (Paris, 1965).

Additional Bibliography

Donizete Ambires, Juarez. "Os Jesuítas e a Administração dos Índios por Particulares em São Paulo no Século XVII." M.A. thesis, University of São Paulo, 2000.

Lima da Silva, Wilton Carlos. As terras inventadas:discurso e natureza em Jean de Léry, André João Antonil e Richard Francis Burton. São Paulo: Editora UNESP, 2003.

                                              Dauril Alden