Brazilian Archives and Recent Historiography on Colonial Brazil

Abstract

This article draws attention to archival research by Brazilian historians in Portugal and Brazil and the fruits of these labors in monographs, dissertations, and articles. Following a survey of historical writing in the colonial period, this essay discusses the growing movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to preserve documents in libraries, archives, and museums in Brazil. The existence of such institutions spurred divulgation of manuscript collections through journals and published transcriptions of documents. The essay then traces Brazilian historiography in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as Brazilian responses to new trends in historical writing in the 1960s. A survey of archives consulted by scholars of colonial Brazil provides the background for the main section, which uses case studies to demonstrate how Brazilian historians have used these depositories. Scholarship published between 1983 and 1999 is emphasized. The intensive use of manuscript collections and the high quality of publications testify to the vitality of studies by Brazilian scholars of colonial Brazil.

Long-Term Perspective on Fishing and Mammal Defaunation in the Atlantic Forest Coast of Brazil Using Archaeological Faunal Remains

“…Others have shown that colonial and post-colonial fisheries were also capable of overexploiting local organisms, causing a noticeable decline in fish and coral populations (Fogliarini et al, 2022; Sandoval Gallardo et al, 2021). Our understanding of these historical processes has predominantly relied on administrative documents, letters and accounts of European travellers and naturalists who began visiting the region in the 16th century (da Rocha, 2022; Russell-Wood, 2001; Whitehead, 2012). While certain historical sources, such as newspapers and archives, provide valuable descriptions of local plants and animals, along with their broad societal significance (Herbst et al, 2023; Sandoval Gallardo et al, 2021), many written documents produced into the late 18th century lack specific details concerning the relative abundance, distribution, and extent to which several native animals were used (Pádua, 2000).…”