Men of science in Brazil: colonial empires and the circulation of information (1780-1810)

Abstract

In the eighteenth century, the Portuguese imperial model yielded to other international strategies, organized according to a logic of networks that revolved around centers for the production of knowledge and the creation and redistribution of scientific products. Within this context, Portugal underwent a 'conversion' that drew it towards the French and British colonial systems. A self-legitimized scientific field was one of the corollaries of the European Enlightenment, a process that involved at least two generations of men of science and, most importantly, whose success relied on the engagement of the State. This process did not transpire systemactically in Brazil, although many of the country's men of science were well abreast of the Enlightenment's most modern philosophical and scientific theories. Policies to foster scientific activities in Brazil did not occur in tandem with broad, deep transformations in the spheres of administration, sociability, institutions, economics, or culture.