A cidade do Rio de Janeiro e o sonho de uma capital americana: Da visão de D. Luís da Cunha à sede do vice-reinado (1736-1763)

Abstract

This article explores the 18th century notion to transfer the capital of the Portuguese empire from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, based on the proposals of D. Luis da Cunha, one of the most prominent advisers to D. John V (D. João V). In order to contextualize da Cunha's Political Policies (Instruções Políticas), written in 1736, and to analyze the choice of Rio de Janeiro to host the Portuguese court, the following pages seek to examine not only the growth of the city as a centre of influence, but notably the increasing importance of the jurisdictions and the concerns of those who ruled the colony. These individuals having been the main exponents in the transformation of Rio de Janeiro into a hub of great strategic and geopolitical significance to the Portuguese monarchy throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.