The
Tamoios, courageous and confident indians, expert hunters,
fishermen and divers could be well distinguished from
other natives; their villages (aldeias) were formed by
five or six ocas (indian tents), which sheltered 150 to
200 people. They had a unique dialect different to the
ones spoken by other natives. The Priest and explorer
José de Anchieta, had already spoken about the
Tamoios as the first island's inhabitants. The Tamoios
called the island Ipaum Guaçu (Ipaum: island; Guaçu:
big). There are other native expressions that name parts
of the island and that are still used: Araçatiba,
Provetá, Acaiá, etc.
Being the biggest island from the south coast, Martim
Afonso de Souza donated it to Dr. Vicent da Fonseca. The
new owner donated big plots of land to other Azorian people
and started the colonization.
Ilha Grande suffered so many pirate attacks that Felipe
II decided to put a guarding barrier on the coastal line
from Cabo Frio to Santa Catarina under the order of Martin
de Sá. Felipe II's resolution to forbid the colonization
of the island lasted until the middle of XIX century.
Due to Luiz Vahia Monteiro's insistence, in 1726 Ilha
Grande was seperated from the State of São Paulo
and added to the state of Rio de Janeiro, claiming that
it was impossible to eradicate smuggling and piracy if
the place wasn't under his jurisdiction.
In 1803 the island was turned into a Parochial division
with the construction of a chapel in the Santana farm,
property of Major Bento José da Costa. The construction
was finished in 1843, when the first church was demolished.
From 1772 to 1890 coffee plantations replaced sugar cane
plantations, being even exported to Europe. The Santana
farm had 5000 slaves to the production of coffee. The
ports of Sant'Ana, Ilha Grande, Abraão and Sitio
Forte were more important than the one in Angra dos Reis.
The former one was the most important in the south because
it facilitated the slave traffic (from the XVII to XIX
centuries).
In the XIX century coffee started being produced in the
Paraíba Valley and slavery was abolished thus the
island entered a bad period with the inhabitants abandoning
the plantations.
Towards the middle of the XIX century, Peter II visited
Ilha Grande and enchanted with its beauty and tranquility,
decided to buy two farms, one which belonged to a Dutchman
(Abraão) and the other one in Dois Rios, where
the Candido Mendes Penalty institution was built later
on.
The "Lazareto", a hospital for quarantined passengers
that disembarked in Brazil, was built in Abraão.
The building hosted sick people from more than 4000 boats
in 28 years.
In 1903, a Correctional Colony was built in Dois Rios.
The Lazareto was deactivated and worked as a political
prison. At the end of the Revolution in 1932 its interns
were moved to the Colony in Dois Rios.
The Lazareto was demolished but some ruins still remain.
In 1940 the Penal Colony Candido Mendes was built, with
capacity for 1000 extremely dangerous prisoners.
This prison worked until 1993 when it was deactivated
and then imploded.
With the decline of agriculture, reforestation was started
in the abandoned areas.
To protect the important ecosystems of the region, in
1971 the State Park of Ilha Grande, with an area of 5.600
hectares, was created being now administered by the IEF,
Instituto Estadual de Florestas (Forest State Institution);
and in 1990 the Biological Reserve from Praia do Sul with
an area of 3.600 hectares, and the Aventureiro Marine
State Park, covering 5 nautic miles were created, both
parks administered by the FEEMA Fundação
Estadual de Engenharia do Meio Ambiente ( Environmental
Engineering State Foundation).
Today, Ilha Grande lives basically from tourism, activity
which is being highly developed and which gives place
to the advent of new and varied types means of lodging
and tourist facilities such as: boat trips, trails, diving,
etc.
