aldeias

Noun

aldeia (plural aldeias)

1. (historical) In colonial Brazil, a settlement created to assimilate and convert the indigenous population, similar to the Spanish reducción
   • It is little wonder that the settlers envied the wealth of the Jesuit aldeias, and resented what they saw as the Jesuits’ obstruction of their efforts to procure an adequate supply of labour for their own plantations.1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin history of Latin America, London; New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 171