The Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute ( pt, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro), IHGB, founded on 21 October 1838, is the oldest and traditional authority to promote research and preservation of historical and geographical, cultural and social sciences in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Its creation, together with the Public Archives of Empire, which amounted to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, joined the effort of the
conservatives during the
regency of
Pedro de Araújo Lima
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
to build a strong and centralized imperial state.
History
The institute was created in 1838, in an assembly of the , by a proposal of Januário da Cunha Barbosa and marshal Raimundo José da Cunha Matos.
Its creation, together with the Public Archives of the Empire, which were added to the
Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, integrated the effort of the conservatives for the construction of a strong and centralized imperial state.
The IHGB was created with two central guidelines for its work: the collection and publication of documents relevant to the history of Brazil and the encouragement, for public education, of history studies.
The founding assembly was composed of twenty-seven founding members, most of whom, in addition to performing functions within the government, were part of a generation still born in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
, compulsorily transferred to Brazil on the occasion of the coming of
King John VI to Brazil and educated in
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
, thus refractory to the ideals of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
.
This group was dominant in the Institute and in government until the early 1850s, when it was replaced by the generation formed in Brazil.
Being located in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, headquarters of the court, it was accredited to represent all of Brazil. It brought together in its cadres the cream of society and intellectuals of the time, bringing together local members (50 full members) and from other parts of the country and the world (an unlimited number of corresponding members).
The geography and history commissions were in charge of receiving memoirs, documents and articles, giving their opinion by indicating them to the magazine, to the single publication, or only to the archive.
Their publications disseminated a coherent discourse in line with the monarchic ideal.
Bibliography
*ARAÚJO, Valdei Lopes de. ''A Experiência do Tempo: conceitos e narrativas na formação nacional brasileira (1813-1845)''. São Paulo: Hucitec, 2008.
*DIAS, Fabiana Rodrigues.
Polifonia e consenso nas páginas da Revista do IHGB: a questão da mão de obra no processo de consolidação da nação, ''História da Historiografia'', no. 5, 2010, 175–188.
*GONÇALVES, Sérgio Campos.
A figura do intelectual e a razão universal na fundação do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. Brasiliana - Journal for Brazilian Studies, v. 2, p. 37-69, 2013.
*GUIMARÃES, Lúcia Maria Paschoal. Debaixo da imediata proteção de Sua Majestade Imperial: o Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (1838-1889). ''RIHGB'', Rio de Janeiro, v. 156, nº 388, p. 459-613, jul/set 1995.
See also
Site official IHGB
References
Historiography of Brazil
Organizations established in 1838
History organisations based in Brazil
Geographic societies
Buildings and structures in Rio de Janeiro (city)
1838 establishments in Brazil
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