This article intends to analyze some demographic data about the captaincy of Rio Grande, in the northern region of the State of Brazil, based on records of baptisms of the Parish of Nossa Senhora de Apresentação, including villages, Indian settlements and some rural chapels, from 1681 to 1714, period whose context was complicated because of the so-called Barbarian War (Indians). The data show some interesting characteristics about the profile of this population at that time. The analysis, anchored in the totality of baptisms, including free and enslaves people, will seek to privilege slaves, a significant segment of the colonial society of the Rio Grande captaincy. Based on the parish records of baptisms, we sought to analyze the following elements: geographical distribution of baptismal sites (total population, black and Indian enslaved); legal status; distribution by sex; sex ratio; number of baptisms per year of slaves; places of origin of slaves from Africa; and finally, family relations of slaves of African origin, as regards the age category (divided among children, adults and missing information), and in the case of children, the marital status of their mothers. Os aspectos analisados a partir dos registros paroquiais de batismos foram: distribuição geográfica dos locais de batismos (população total, escravos negros e indígenas); condição jurídi-1 Utilizar-se-á Rio Grande, sem "do norte", uma vez que o termo apareceu somente em 1751, para diferenciar a região da capitania do São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, e o período aqui estudado é anterior.
Keywords& História Econômica Demografia Histórica I n t r o d u ç ã