Território, natureza e população : relatos de viagem na revista do IHGB (1839-1857)

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes how the travel reports published in the first twenty volumes of the Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (IHGB) contributed to the invention of Brazil and the construction of its national identity in the 19th century with regard to Brazilian territory. These reports, written by travellers representing the imperial state, inventoried the territory and its populations from the perspective of the civilization project. The motivations and profiles of the authors are analysed, as well as the role of the IHGB in the formation of national identity, the representation of Brazilian nature in the reports, with a focus on its economic potential and the dualism between nature and culture, and the descriptions of the populations encountered on the excursions, such as indigenous people, enslaved blacks, quilombolas, settlers and European immigrants, and their relationship with the ideal of civilization. The dissertation uses a comparative approach, from Mary Louise Pratt perspective, to understand how travellers produced conceptions of civilization and of themselves as agents of this process, legitimizing the empire's territorial expansion