Abstract
ABSTRACT During the eighteenth century, Portuguese settlers in Amazonia captured thousands of turtles and crushed millions of their eggs. These turtles, especially the Giant South American River Turtle (Podocnemis expansa), gave these settlers two essential resources: meat and oil. Though there is a rich historiography on turtle hunting, important social and environmental dimensions of the practice in Amazonia during the colonial period have been overlooked. In this paper we focus on how turtles played a key role in the diet and domestic needs of Portuguese settlers in the Amazon rainforest and explore the shape and magnitude of colonialism’s impact on these animals. The turtles became prime targets for Portuguese settlers because they were abundant and had characteristics and behavior that made them easy prey. Though P. expansa did not become extinct, Portuguese hunting had enduring impacts on their distribution and abundance that merit consideration.
Highlights
The number of works dealing with the multiple historical interactions between humans and animals after the arrival of Europeans in the New World has grown exponentially
Bringing the animal into their analysis, scholars have expanded our understanding on their remarkable impact in colonial economy and society, in religion and biblical narrative, medicinal practices, and scientific ideas
The theme of this essay converses with a recent and significant body of historical work dealing with animals in colonial Americas, especially scholarship about how exploitative practices of settlers have wreaked havoc on some particular species of New World fauna
Summary
Tartarugas, índios e colonizadores: a exploração de Podocnemis expansa e o povoamento português na Amazônia setecentista. O artigo analisa como as tartarugas desempenharam um papel fundamental na dieta e nas necessidades domésticas dos colonos portugueses nesse ambiente e explora a forma e a magnitude do impacto colonial sobre tais animais. Sobre todo las tortugas del Amazonas (Podocnemis expansa), proporcionaron a los colonizadores portugueses dos recursos esenciales: carne y aceite. El artículo analiza cómo las tortugas desempeñaron un papel fundamental en la dieta y las necesidades domésticas de los colonos portugueses en este ambiente y también explora la forma y la magnitud del impacto colonial sobre estos animales. Podocnemis expansa no fue extinguida, con todo, la distribución y abundancia de las poblaciones de las tortugas del Amazonas, a lo largo del tiempo y bien con el impacto de la explotación portuguesa sobre estos animales deben ser considerados.
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