19th century Brazilian history
A01=Marshall C. Eakin
Author_Marshall C. Eakin
Brazilian independence
Category=NHK
Category=NHTQ
Category=WTL
descriptions of 19th century Brazil
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eq_history
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Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil
History of Brazil
Latin American history
Richard Francis Burton
Royal Geographic Society
Sao Francisco River
South American history
Product details
- ISBN 9780822967859
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Dec 2025
- Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Empires and Explorations interweaves nineteenth-century Brazilian history, the extraordinary life of Richard Francis Burton, and the use of travel writing by historians. Burton witnessed the origins of the early processes of nation-building in Brazil including the power and influence of Great Britain on a monarchy that had ruled an independent Brazil since the 1820s laying the foundations for the physical integration of the nation, an economy based on coffee and slave labor, the construction of national myths, and very hesitant steps toward electoral, representative politics. A seasoned explorer of South Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa, Burton provided us with a panoramic view of Brazil in mid-century. He highlighted the obstacles created by region, race, class, religion, and culture in late nineteenth-century Brazil and offered his advice on how to build a nation from the perspective of an iconoclastic Victorian Englishman. Eakin follows Burton’s path and reflects on how the landscape, character, and identity of Brazil have evolved.
Marshall C. Eakin is distinguished professor of history emeritus at Vanderbilt University, where he taught from 1983 to 2024. A specialist in modern Brazilian history, he is the author of six books, including The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures and Becoming Brazilians: Race and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Brazil. From 2004–2011 he served as the executive director of the Brazilian Studies Association. In June and July 2022, he spent six weeks retracing Richard Burton’s travels across eastern Brazil.
