The Brazilian hinterlands in the Luzo-Brazilian History

Abstract

This article analyzes the concept of hinterland in Brazilian culture, particularly in the colonial period. It compares the hinterland model formulated by the Brazilian intelligentsia, based on the work of Euclides da Cunha, with the plural model of hinterlands present in the work of Capistrano de Abreu, between ends of century XIX and beginning of the XX. It examines the ideas of hinterland formulated by the historical agents in the process of the Portuguese territorial expansion in Brazil among the XVI and the XVIII centuries. It questions the idea of colonial hinterlands as an empty and frightening land, commenting the attractive aspects of the conquest of the hinterlands for the Portuguese settlers, especially the search for gold, silver and precious stones, as well as the enslavement of the Indians. It relates the colonial wilderness to the frontier concept, as formulated by Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, and to the concept of periphery, following the model of Russell Wood.