Von Martius became an important reference for historiographic studies once his text containing a writing program for Brazilian history was awarded a prize by the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (IHGB). His extensive intellectual production is largely dedicated to this issue, bearing in mind the need for written history in the construction of a collective identity for the young tropical nation. This paper aims to deal with some aspects of von Martius’s history writing against the backdrop of the scientific models being developed in the first decades of the nineteenth century, as well as against the nineteenth century culture framework.
historiography; von Martius; von Spix; scientific journeys; travelers; history of Brazil