The Croatian Contribution to the Exploration and Mapping of the States of Mato Grosso and Paraná
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Altic, M.
1INSTITUTE OF SOOCIAL SCIENCES Email: mirela.altiuic@gmail.com
Abstract
The brothers Mirko and Stjepan Seljan are one of Croatia's most well-known explorers. Between 1903-1905, they explored the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Paraná at the invitation of the Brazilian government. It was the aim of the government to develop and regulate the country's waterways, and to build new road and railroad communications. When the Brazilian government commissioned the Seljan brothers to carry out explorations and mapping, in order to support their efforts, they established two companies, the Misión Científica Croata (Croatian Scientific Mission) and the Sociedad Slava Explotadora de Mato Grosso (Slavic Society for the Exploration of Mato Grosso). In the course of three years, their activities resulted in three project proposals: the regulation of the upper course of the Paraná River as a navigable waterway, the construction of a road connecting the Mato Grosso state with the Amazon River on the route from Cuiabá to Santarém, and a railroad line between the cities of Foz do Iguaçu and Curitiba. The said projects involved extensive mapping activities on the Paraná, Paranapanema and Itararé Rivers, on the Salto Grande and Salto de Iguaçu waterfalls, as well as in parts of the Mato Grosso state, along the course of the Cuiabá River, and on the headwaters of the Xingu River (twenty years later, the same route was also followed by the famous explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett). The Seljan brothers tried their hands at ethnographic cartography as well, and sought to map the tribes throughout the State of Paraná. These projects and associated maps showed the then Brazilian government's efforts to link the vast hinterland with the coast, and the significant contribution to those efforts by many immigrant communities, including Croatian. This paper reports about the results of the original research project based on an analysis of original expedition journals, manuscript maps and field sketches made by the Seljan brothers in Brazil. The paper also evaluates Croatian contribution to the exploration and mapping of Brazil and to explorative cartography in the early 20th century in general.
Keywords
Mato Grosso, Paraná ; Early 20 century; Explorative cartography