Abstract
Starting from a reflection on the colonial frontier, this article aims to open a discussion on the notion of the sea as a border. In its appeal of the continental border, historians put the maritime boundary in second place. Starting from a case study - the first voyage of circumnavigation of James Cook and the log books associated with it - we want to contribute to a better understanding of the colonial frontier of Colonial Brazil, as well as how European empires of the eighteenth century thought of themselves and its relations with other empires, and yet, as the Europe of the Enlightenment was considered as it related to the European colonies established in the tropics, in this case, Brazil.
Keywords:
Colony; Portuguese America/Brazil; travelers´accounts; identities; Enlightenment; science history