"A PAINTING OF THE WHOLE EARTH": GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION IN 18TH-CENTURY HISTORICAL PROSE

Abstract

This investigation aims to analyze the descriptions of space in the "historical dissertations" produced by the Academia Brasílica dos Esquecidos (Salvador, 1724-1725). These dissertations were part of the historical prose written at the time and were divided by the academics into political, military, ecclesiastical, and natural history. The discussion of some socio-political and cultural practices and concepts of the Portuguese Old Regime is incorporated into this study alongside a rhetorical analysis to ground our evaluations. In particular, we consider the relevance of the rhetorical topoi theatrum mundi and ut pictura poesis for an understanding of the geographical aspects in the historiography produced within the context of this scholarly academy. The study demonstrates the use of these topoi by Luso-American intellectuals to construct a landscape, starting with the design of a setting to narrate human actions upon it. In a context of major transformations in the field of International Law, the theme of providentialism was associated with geographical descriptions to produce an image of the Portuguese Empire from an American perspective.