Following the paths not taken by Alexander von Humboldt and A. Bonpland in nineteenth-century Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the presence of the ideas and work of Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in nineteenth-century Brazil. Given Humboldt’s antislavery position, the first part of the text investigated the impact of his ideas on some Brazilian anti-slavery and abolitionist authors. In the second part, we study the presence of Humboldt and Bonpland in the largest, most important newspaper in Brazil, the Jornal do Commercio (RJ). Studying issues from a period of over seventy years, we sought to analyze the variety of images constructed of each, focusing more on Humboldt due to his importance as a naturalist and intellectual versed in Latin American issues.