Desconstructing maps, revealing spatializations: reflections on the use of mapping studies in colonial Brazil

Abstract

The article discusses the use of cartography in historical studies from contemporary studies in Historical Cartography and the History of Cartography, particularly studies about the colonial Brazil. In the first part we reflect about the use of digital tools in studies of historical cartography. In the second part we discuss some definitions about the "nature of the maps" and its theoretical and methodological implications. Finally, we did a little exercise in interpretation from a document fragment that references spatialization the Portuguese conquests in the center of South America.

cartography; digital tools; Colonial Brazil