The institutionalization of medical knowledge and its implications for official healthcare professionals in Portuguese America

Abstract:

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on health, sickness and treatment in colonial Brazil by examining the movements of the physicians, surgeons and apothecaries who were born, lived or worked in Portuguese America at some point in their careers. The documentary basis consists of 2,688 records on 1,325 individuals, extracted from a relational database containing 24,000 nominative records from Portuguese central archives relating to healthcare professionals in Portugal and its empire between 1430 and 1826. This exploratory research focuses on the legislative and institutional framework established by the monarchy and implemented by its agents in Brazil between 1549 and 1808.

Keywords:
Institutionalization; Healthcare professionals; Portuguese America