The Brazilian Export Economy, 1822–1913

Absell, Christopher David; Junguito, Antonio Tena

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62340-5_4

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…They were used to transport people and goods, enabling relatively fast long-distance logistics, communication, mail, hunting, leisure, sports, military operations, and employed in many agriculture-related roles (Thompson 1976 ; Soppelsa 2011 ; Guest and Mattfeld 2019 ). Brazil was also a latecomer to the construction of railroads, with a low level of penetration and seriously uneven distribution of railroad tracks (Leff 1972; Absell and Tena-Junguito 2017 ), thereby increasing its relative dependency on pack animals. Furthermore, as Burlamaque stated, even the Brazilian military struggled to find horses suitable for its needs.…”

Section: Government-sponsored Projects For Animal Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tale of Enduring Myths: Buffon’s Theory of Animal Degeneration and the Regeneration of Domesticated Animals in Mid-19th Century Brazil

Penteado

2023

J Hist Biol

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The long 19th century was a period of many developments and technical innovations in agriculture and animal biology, during which actors sought to incorporate new practices in light of new information. By the middle of the century, however, while heredity steadily became the dominant concept in animal husbandry, some policies related to livestock improvement in Brazil seemed to have been tailored following a climate-deterministic concept established in the mid-18th century by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon. His theory of animal degeneration posited, among other things, the necessity of recurrent crossbreeding to preserve animal species living in nonnative environments from climate-induced degeneration. Although largely discredited by the early 19th century, the teachings of the French naturalist seem to have found supporters in a Brazilian program to modernize national agriculture through the application of the natural sciences. Herein I examine the revival of Buffon’s theories in that government-sponsored program to improve animal husbandry and breeding techniques, including actual applications of this theory in the real world. Ultimately, I argue that Buffon’s theory of degeneration was used to tailor public policies and funding for the improvement of domesticated animals in Brazil between 1856 and 1860.

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Section: Government-sponsored Projects For Animal Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%