From manuscript to print: the foundations of a jesuit cartographic genre in the 18th Century

• Grant number: 25/13760-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Denise Aparecida Soares de Moura
• Grantee: Lucas Alexandre Albino
• Supervisor: Gissel Amorina Villarreal Brasca
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/17869-1 - Missionaries, cartographers, and astronomers: a study on the construction of collaborative cartographic genres in the Jesuit Province of Paraguay (18th century)., BP.MS

Abstract

This project investigates the production and circulation of the Paraquariae Provinciae map (1726), created by the criollo Jesuit Juan Francisco Dávila, who is considered the founder of a Jesuit missionary cartographic genre. The central objective is to examine the repercussions of this map, especially by comparing the original manuscript version with the five known printed versions produced between 1728 and 1760. The comparison aims to identify historically significant editorial changes and to understand how the map was adapted according to political, technical, and symbolic contexts.The study is based on the premise that the Provincia Paraguaria genre has an unstable materiality, shaped by the functions and circulation circuits of cartographic images. The analysis of the manuscript allows access to layers of production and authorial decisions that were not preserved in the printed editions due to historical circumstances.In parallel, the project proposes research in Spanish archives to recover historical documentation related to the commission and dispatch of the map, deepening the understanding of the intentions of the Society of Jesus and the reception of the document by metropolitan authorities.This research is situated within the field of the social history of cartography, drawing on interdisciplinary approaches and contributing to the study of Jesuit spatial production in the Americas.