Alcantara

Alcantara was built on cotton and sugar in the eighteenth century, worked by enslaved Africans on estates around it, and it was rich enough that the imperial family was expected to visit - a palace was begun for a stay by Pedro II that never happened, and the roofless shell stands on the square. When the cotton trade collapsed in the nineteenth century the town emptied instead of adapting, and what remains is a colonial settlement preserved by poverty: the ruined Matriz de Sao Matias, the pillory in the main square, tiled facades, and streets of houses with their frontages standing and nothing behind. Descendants of the estate workforce live in quilombo communities around the town, many of them displaced again in the 1980s when a rocket launch centre was built on their land.

History

The area was home to a cluster of Tupinambá villages, the main one called Tapuitapera, where the French, who reached Maranhão in 1612, built the first chapel; the Portuguese drove them out in 1615 and began settling the region between 1616 and 1618, making Tapuitapera the seat of the Captaincy of Cumã. The town was abandoned when the Dutch took the region in 1641, and after the Portuguese won it back it became the Vila de Santo Antônio de Alcântara in 1648, with a town hall, a pillory and a parish church; the captaincy was abolished around 1754 (Wikipedia, Alcântara, Maranhão).

What's there

• A town preserved by collapse - colonial fabric left when the cotton trade ended.
• The roofless Matriz - the ruined main church on the square.
• The pillory - the stone standing where the slave market operated.
• Quilombo communities - the descendants of the estate workforce nearby.

When to go

July to December. A day, on the first boat out and the afternoon boat back.

Before you go

Crossings are cancelled when the sea is rough and the small boats are uncomfortable; the last return leaves early. Accommodation in town is very limited. Buildings are ruins rather than restorations. Facilities are minimal.

Nearby

Sao Luis is across the bay; the launch centre occupies the coast north.

Key facts