Documents for the history of the oldest Brazilian Zoological Park: The Goeldi Museum Zoobotanical Park

Abstract

The paper contextualizes the creation of the Goeldi Museum Zoobotanical Park, in Belém, State of Pará, in 1895, considered the oldest zoo in Brazil. It features two rare historical sources on the Park, a 1897 article by the German zoologist Hermann Meerwarth (1870-1943), Scientific Assistant of Zoology and Inspector of the Goeldi Museum's Zoo between August 1895 and April 1899; and a 1901 book of the Swiss zoologist Gottfried Hagmann (1874-1946), who held the same positions between November 1899 and mid 1904. Both texts are technical reports originally published in German, were translated into Portuguese and updated in a taxonomic viewpoint. They allow not only studies on the Goeldi Museum Zoobotanical Park, as well as about zoos in general, and specific readings in the areas of history of science, environmental history, museology, architecture, environmental education and science communication.