THE 'TRILHA DOS HOLANDESES' LOCATED BETWEEN THE PATHS OF THE ITAMARACÁ ISLAND (PE): ARCHEOLOGY AND FLUVIAL-MARITIME LANDSCAPE

Abstract

This article analyzes the ‘Trilha dos Holandeses’, a tourist route on the North Coast of Pernambuco, based on mechanisms available in Landscape Archeology. The approach contributes to the debate on the occupation and appropriation of the insular space, life dynamics and relationship between local social agents and the environment that surrounds them, on the Island of Itamaracá, where the trail is located. The Island was an important place in the Brazilian colonial scene in the first decades of the 16th Century, where urban centers, fortifications and specific port logistics were established. The tourist route currently known as the ‘Trilha dos Holandeses’ refers to the route by the sea that connected Vila de Nossa Senhora da Conceição to Forte Orange. The Trail is used today by fishermen and natives of Itamaracá to articulate the places of interest between the Santa Cruz Channel and the oceanic face of the Island. Considering the historical relevance of the route and its preserved environment, the trail also attracts tourists visiting Itamaracá. In our proposal, the ‘Trilha dos Holandeses’ was approached from the perspective of the fluvial-maritime Cultural Landscape, which adds to Landscape studies the variant of wetlands as central elements in archaeological interpretation.