In the soil watered with blood and sweat: the maps of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay (eighteenth century)

Author(s)

Newton da Rocha Xavier

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2012-08-23

Examining board members

Iris Kantor; Renato Cymbalista; Carlos Alberto de Moura Ribeiro Zeron

• Advisor: Iris Kantor

Abstract

The maps produced by members of the Society of Jesus was essentials to the geographical knowledge of various parts of the world. The priests had contact, often informally, with the pratices involved in the cartography profession, within the possibilities and needs of each missionary zeal surrounding context. In the case of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay, mathematics, astronomy and geography reports, gave the possibility of creating a representation of the region which ranked as the most important source of information about the region for the european geographers of the XVII and XVIII centuries. The spatial representations of the Jesuits of Paraguay, is embodied in a series of maps \"Paraquariae Provinciae\". Such documentation strenghtened the justification for the missionary presence in the region. In the age of Enlightenment, the presence of the Jesuits in Paraguai was harshly questioned by philosophers and administrators illustrated. This research on the representation of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay in the mapping, shows how the se images were reproduced by critics of the Society of Jesus, having been re-developed by jesuit enemies. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/03917-4 - Ground sprinkled with blood and sweat: the jesuit cartography of the Region of Plata (1732-1774)
• Grantee: Newton da Rocha Xavier
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master