Nos jardins de são José: uma história do jardim botânico do Grão-Pará, 1796-1873.

Abstract

The object of this thesis is the institutionalization of natural sciences in Amazonia between the end of the colonial period and the first half of the 19th century, through the foundation of the Grão-Pará Botanic Garden. For this study I used current theoretical references in history of science, and primary and secondary sources. The thesis was divided in three chapters. In the first one, I present the scenario of the transformations occurred in the botanic gardens throughout modern Europe, focusing on the articulation of the colonial botanic gardens’ network in the 18th century. The case of Portugal is analyzed in more details. In the second one, I emphasize the strategic role of Belem within the context of territorial disputes of the Portuguese Crown in the second half of 1700s’. The creation of Belem’s botanic garden in 1798 was analyzed within this context of dispute as well as part of the many attempts in diversifying the colonial agriculture. In addition, this chapter also analyses the role of Belem’s botanic garden within the Luso-Brazilian exchange network of plants. In the final chapter, I show that the conflicts that occurred in Brazil during the independence process and the regency, particularly vicious in Para, made impossible the normal functioning of the Belem’s garden. In 1839, the botanic garden became a provincial institution, thus being restored according to new institutional models. Turned into a public garden, the botanic garden was not seen as locus for the practice of natural science any longer. Simultaneously to this change, the former function of the botanic garden was gradually taken over by new institutions such as the Museu Paraense, created in 1866. At last, in 1873 the botanic garden’s location was considered inappropriate, resulting in its final close.