Abstract
The possibility that the climate altered the temperament of people who were not native to a given region was a widely held belief even before the discovery of the Americas. Changes in air, temperature, and diet were believed to contribute decisively to whether races degenerated or flourished. In the New World, the black, European, and indigenous races mixed, reconfiguring European diseases. I explore how historian Robert Southey viewed this mixture of races in a positive light, especially the mixture of indigenous and Portuguese blood, resulting in the mameluco. The mamelucos from São Paulo are presented in Southey’s History of Brazil as inheriting the Portuguese enterprising spirit with the tireless nature of the indigenous people.
Robert Southey (1774-1843); disease; racial mixing; climate; History of Brazil (book)