This paper is concerned with the establishment of chapels in Minas Gerais, taking into account its political meaning and its relationship with the social fitting of the population. Power practices are evaluated, since foundations of the chapels by colonial sponsors to their ecclesiastical and royal admissions. Considering political bonds on the second half of the eighteen century, one verifies that chapels - a way of power of owners and subject regulation - had a fundamental role in the government, mainly at frontiers.
Chapels; political power; government