>>40303
>Were those guys free (landowners) or more liek serfs (which we could call half-free).
There were small landowners, even owning small numbers of slaves, but a common arrangement was freemen being allowed to work on the great landowners' land for themselves in exchange for services such as small agricultural tasks but even also working as henchmen when needed. In addition slaves could work small plots of land for themselves.
>Tell me about that.
Captains were expected to be able to mobilize their subjects for territorial defense. Free men were expected to acquire and maintain their own weapons, according to social position, with landowners and captains needing to own small arsenals. It was an extension of the Portuguese system of Ordinances, with companies rooted at the local level. The most powerful locals commanded the companies and posts were decided by elections in the towns, who were even responsible for the cost of military training.
Though training was expected to take place regularly they weren't a standing army and were unpaid. Besides the Ordinances there were also Militias organized in a similar fashion. Together they were an auxiliary territorial force to the proper standing army. The professional force was not local but national, maintained by the Governors-General who were appointed by the Crown to oversee the captaincies once in a few decades it was shown that all but a couple of captains failed at administration.