Manuel Ferreira da Câmara was one of the exponents of Luso-american Enlightenment. The historiography has highlighted his activities as an administrator, employee and politician, neglecting to incorporate his dimension as a naturalist. By resurrecting this facet of a student of the natural world, we find in the archives and libraries various texts by the author that remain unpublished. One of these manuscripts is entitled "A note on extraction from the mines of the Principality of Transylvania written in Zalathna on March 5, 1796", produced during a trip through several countries of Central and Northern Europe at the request of the Portuguese government. Given the reflection elaborated by Câmara on the Transylvania region and the policy of administering the mines implemented there, its publication is highly relevant.
history of the sciences; Manuel Ferreira da Câmara; Luso-american Enlightenment; Transylvania; mining