REPRESENTATION OF THE GOIÁS CAPTAINCY IN THE 18TH CENTURY CARTOGRAPHY
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Barbo, L.; 2Ribeiro, R.
1UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA Email: lenorabarbo@gmail.com
2UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA Email: rjcribeiro@unb.br
Abstract
Traditionally, according to narrative of ancient chroniclers and travellers, cartographers produced maps gathering information from published documents by other authors and their own fieldwork. The historical cartographic documents were, in different situations, acts of interpretation. Be that as it may, they have registered geographical pieces of information that were fundamental for the rebuilding of places of the past. They have conserved pieces of information that, often, were not in any other written source, such as names of places, borders and physical aspects modified or erased by man and time. From the material culture point of view, maps are interpreted as cultural artefacts and, thus, historical; therefore, the particularities of the cartographic language reveal the conception of the world, the stage of scientific knowledge, the conventions and the characteristic codes of representation of each period. The article addresses the beginning of the evolution of the occupation of the goiano (from the State of Goiás) territory though the analysis of nine historical maps of the period between 1750 and 1778. From these cartographic documents, the transformation of the place has been observed during these nearly 30 years. Through reconstitution exercises of data from the ancient maps, using the System of Geographic Information – SGI as a main tool in order to find out the knowledge of the territory, the research has explored the process of alteration of the Goiás Captaincy limits. The comparative analysis between the selected maps for the study has led to conclude that, in the 18th century, the Captaincy contours were distinct of the current ones. Initially, Goiás was a territory that belonged to the São Paulo Captaincy and when it was granted autonomy – 1748 – it comprehended the current Triangulo Mineiro (Minas’ Triangle), Tocantins, part of Mato Grosso and Maranhão. Besides, the order of series of the cartographic documents has allowed to follow up the transformation of the territory and the establishment of small cities and settlements, in order to identify which have remained and which have disappeared in the historical process of the region’s evolution. During, the 18th century, settlements have disseminated all over the goiano territory and the maps show practically all the villages and small cities existent at the moment. The settlements dedicated to mining were allocated along auriferous river and stream shores, in regions of bumpy topography; but those linked to cattle-raising have grown as appendix of mandatory inns, in the long workdays of transporting cattle, or have developed in the crossroads of cowboy’s roads. The majority of the urban nucleuses went through anterior stages, such as chapel and parish, before being elevate to the category of “small city.” Out of the listed elements, it shall be possible, in a future stage, to reconstruct the roads and paths that crossed the region and served as trade and development roads. The reconstitution of these ancient roads shall enable a series of actions aimed at protecting its cultural patrimony and the reaffirmation of its historical relevance.
Keywords
Historical cartography; Goiás; 18th century