Oliveira Lima Research Articles

An Autograph Letter of John Maurice of Nassau, Governor of the Dutch Colony in Brazil (1636–1644)

The Oliveira Lima collection of 40,000 volumes at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C, known as the Lima Library and directed by an expert in Brazilian history, Dr. Manoel Cardozo, considers as one of its most cherished treasures an autograph letter written by John Maurice, Count of Nassau, to his panegyrist, Barlaeus. It is written in the Dutch language in what is supposed to be Latin script, but the use of several gothic characters betrays the author’s German origin.

Notes on the Works of Ferdinand Denis, 1798-1890, Americanist, in the Oliveira Lima Collection, Catholic University, Washington, D. C

Notes on the Works of Ferdinand Denis, 1798-1890, Americanist, in the Oliveira Lima Collection, Catholic University, Washington, D. C

The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America

I PROPOSE to confine myself to the discussion of some new documents and to show their importance in order to arrive at a solution of the problem of the pre-Columbian discovery of America, in connection with the voyages of Christopher Columbus. I omit all references to the Norse discovery of America, which I consider a historic fact, as well as to the hypothesis of the discovery by the Mandingo negroes, studied by the American historian Leo Wiener, and by the Basques, which has also been frequently discussed by French and Spanish historians, and intend to deal only with the hypothesis of the pre-Columbian discovery of America by the Portuguese. I say the hypothesis, but it is convenient to add that it has become a historic fact for the majority of Portuguese historians and many foreigners, of whom I will quote only Prestage, Zechlin, Biggar, Babcock, and Oliveira Lima, who at least accept it as very probable. For my part I have endeavoured, in successive works, to establish a method for the study of the problem.' In my opinion, although I have to consider new sources, it was not owing to the lack of documents, but to want of method in their study, that some events of the past have remained obscure. The problem with which I deal becomes much clearer when we study it in the light of the two following considerations: the geographical environment systematically connecting the facts with the circumstances in which they have been produced; secondly, the preponderant role played by economic factors in the evolution of the knowledge of the Earth. This allows us to establish a new scale of values for the whole of the known texts and documents. Two errors have obscured this chapter in the history of geography: (i) the supposition that trans-oceanic voyages were more difficult than those along the coasts; (2) the neglect of the consideration that the economic objectives, pursued by the State, might prevent the divulgation of geographical discoveries from reasons of high policy. When we study the three Atlantic continents together, from the point of view of the duration of the voyages between them, we reach the conclusion that, in a general manner, America is rather nearer Europe than is West Africa. A sailing ship takes the same time to come from Newfoundland to the English Channel as from the Straits of Gibraltar; and the same time from Cape Horn, the farthest point of South America, to the Channel, as from Lagos, in the Gulf of Guinea. A glance at the map is enough to make us realize the big difference between these several distances. With regard to the voyages from Europe to America or Africa, the disparity, though less noticeable, remains.2 Furthermore the crossing from one continent to another, making use of the north-east trade winds and the equatorial stream

Bibliographical and historical Description of the Rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America.

Bibliographical and historical Description of the Rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America.

Bibliographical and historical Description of the rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America

Bibliographical and historical Description of the rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America

Bibliographical and Historical Description of the Rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America

Bibliographical and Historical Description of the Rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America