Cartographic Language and Geopolitical Discourses on Brazilian Borders
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Novaes, A.
1STATE UNIVERSITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO Email: andrereyesnovaes@gmail.com
Abstract
The history of Brazilian geopolitical thought has been studied from different perspectives in recent decades (e.g Child, 1979, Myamoti, 1981, Hepple, 1992). However, little attention has been given to the language of maps accompanying textual arguments in books and articles written by Brazilian geopoliticians throughout the twentieth century (Dodds, 1993). This paper seeks to study the cartographic practices applied to represent the history of Brazilian borders, considering how geopolitical arguments were often disseminated through pictorial maps with great popular appeal. By dialoguing with the language of journalistic and propagandistic maps, the cartography produced to accompany geopolitical texts helped to disseminate specific ways to tell the story of Brazilian borders. In order to collect these maps I conducted a search in the archives of military institutions, looking for books and articles produced by geopoliticians during the twentieth century to represent the history Brazilian borders. Authors such as Mario Travassos (1891 – 1973), Golbery do Couto e Silva (1911 – 1987) and Carlos de Meira Mattos (1913 – 2007) were very influential in the Brazilian geopolitical thought, and their publications are full of figurative maps illustrating geopolitical arguments on South American borders. By representing important episodes and agreements in the formation of Brazilian political boundaries, such as the Tordesíllhas Treaty (1494) and the Treaty of Madrid (1750), these publications presents a series of maps that sought to justify and glorify the Brazilian expansionism and legitimize the so-called “uti possidetis” as a diplomatic argument. More than just identify national discourses in the collected maps the purpose of this article is to discuss the use of pictorial languages in order to construct geopolitical narratives and “images of the past” (Black, 2005). The simplification, the silencing and the use of figurative language are common practices in maps produced in different geopolitical contexts (Harley, 2002). The general Karl Haushofer, for instance, advocated the need to simplify geopolitical maps to “maximize the psychological effects on the audience" (Herb, 1989). This suggestion seems to have been heard by Brazilian geopoliticians, which produced quite flashy and dynamic maps to represent the history of national borders.
Keywords
cartographic language; geopolitics; borders