O clima do Amazonas: uma interpretação dos discursos de administradores Provinciais (1850-1890)

Abstract

Between 1850-1890, administrators tied to province of Amazonas (physicians, engineers, lawyers, president of province) defended the Amazonas climate from detractor and calumnious speeches of european‟s philosophers theses. So, each administrator defended the climate from detractor thesis which dates back to mid-XVIII century, with Buffon and De Pauw as its major inventors; as well as the geographical deterministic sense of “raztelian school” of Geography, with Thomas Buckle, in the XIX century, as its major interpreter of brazilian‟s climate. These theses said that in places near to the equinoctial zone the civilization doesn‟t reached evolved gradients. The time frame of this study was done because of political, economic and cultural upheaval that has transformed the province during the second half of the nineteenth century. The theoretical perspective is anchored in the History of Ideas, and our sources are state papers: reports, messages, and exhibitions.