Abstract
AbstractIn the 1790s, Jose Vieira Couto, a Brazilian naturalist, was appointed by the Portuguese crown to study parts of the captaincy of Minas Gerais, located in southwestern Brazil. It was in this region that great deposits of gold and diamonds had been found earlier in the eighteenth century. Between 1788 and 1802, Vieira Couto used his expertise to serve the Portuguese state and advance his own career, writing several reports (memorias economicas, or economic treatises) regarding his expeditions in Minas Gerais. His knowledge of mining and geology was vital to the Portuguese authorities, who by that time were concerned about a decline in the captaincy’s mineralogical production. Studying the holdings of his personal library as well as his economic treatises provides a lens through which to view the influence of the Enlightenment in Brazil and to observe the spread of a new science and philosophy at the end of the eighteenth century. It also shows how technical expertise played an important role in the...
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