This series contains bound volumes of handwritten documents. The books of land grants (Sesmarias) reveal the process by which agrarian space was occupied in Paraíba during the colonial period. The land grant letters contain requests for land made to the Portuguese Crown in compensation for effort and resources spent in the conquest agricultural lands in the area that is now the state of Paraíba. These efforts were compensated through donation of land for residences, sugarmills, and/or corrals. In Paraíba, the land grants were donated from 1586 to 1824. Within the Arquivo Histórico Waldemar Bispo Duarte, there are land grants from 1704 to 1824, with some chronological gaps.
Created by the Paraíba Captaincy's Government.
Manuscript book, with non-original hardcover. Severely damaged by insects, iron gall ink, and acid paper. Initial folios are missing, and some are torn.
