COLOMBIA PRIMA

AS RELAÇÕES ENTRE CULTURA IMPRESSA E OS INTERESSES DIPLOMÁTICOS PORTUGUESES NO FINAL DO SÉCULO XVIII.

Abstract

This article addresses the collaboration conducted by Luís Pinto de Sousa Coutinho (1735-1804), the Viscount of Balsemão, to provide several maps of Brazil to the English geographer William Faden (1749-1836), with the aim of influencing the design of the Portuguese America on the map Colombia Prima or South America, first published in 1807. Establishing this bilateral relationship was of mutual interest, which is why we maintain that Colombia Prima represents the synthesis of Portuguese geographic knowledge about Brazil, accumulated throughout the 18th century. By participating in this construction, the Viscount of Balsemão intended to use the authority of the map to publicize the limits of Portuguese possessions in South America, consolidating the continental limits of Brazil in illustrated public opinion, in the face of a Spanish America that was on the verge of crumbling.