Footsteps of the American Race: Archaeology, ethnography, and romantism in Imperial Brazil (1838-1867)

Abstract

In 1839, when the first issue of the Brazilian Journal of Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB) was published, Januário da Cunha Barbosa (1839) wrote the new members of the Institute a list of documents and information which they should look for in the Imperial Provinces. Among the listed items, Father Januário da Cunha asked records of indigenous populations and their customs which could be used in the future to help bring these populations to civilization. He also requested a statistic list enumerating the number of indigenous groups, their principle activities and comments related to any economic advantage to be made of them. He also asked for a meticulous geographical examination of the provinces, a map showing natural resources, native products, and a careful topography of their rivers and mountains. A study of the quality and size of their lands was required as well. In sum, the first secretary of the IHGB, Januário da Cunha Barbosa, already in the first issue of the journal, set up a kind of overture, including two themes which would become the basis of IHGB's archaeological and Ethnographic thinking: spreading civilization over the entire interior of the country and civilize indigenous populations. Agreement with these themes, important to centralizing political projects of the Monarchy, gave a certain rhythm to the Archaeology and Ethnography practiced by the Institute. It provided ideas to help set up the romantic picture used in the formation of a national identity and Indian policy. © 2005 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.