Brazil, a tropical country: the climate in the construction of a Brazilian national identity (1839-1889)

Author(s)

Luis Fernando Tosta Barbato

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2011-09-02

Examining board members

Edgar Salvadori De Decca; Leandro Karnal; Gilmar Arruda

• Advisor: Edgar Salvadori De Decca

Abstract

This study aims to understand the role of climate in the construction of a brazilian national identity. The main research sources are the magazines of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute - the IHGB - in the corresponding period between the foundation of the institute's magazine - in 1839 - and the end of the Second Reign - in 1889. Through this study, we sought to understand how the Brazilian intellectuals of this period, concerned with creating a national feeling in a Brazil, in principle, lacking ties of union and on the verge of territorial collapse, used the tropical climate for this purpose. In addition to understanding the difficulties of applying the notion of civilization to a country with a climate considered hostile and unhealthy, very different than the tempered climate in Europe, the model continent for our "nation builders (AU)