Empires and Exploration

What Burton’s Explorations Tell Us About the Complex Origins of the Brazilian Nation-State

Empires and Explorations interweaves nineteenth-century Brazilian history, the extraordinary life of Richard Francis Burton, and the use of travel writing by historians.

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 labour, 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 evol