THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY OF RIO DE JANEIRO

Abstract

In this paper we aim to analyze the beginnings of the Royal Military Academy of Rio de Janeiro. There will be a brief outline of the Portuguese University Reform of 1772 concerning the creation of the first Faculty of Mathematics in Portugal, a direct inspiration for the mathematics part of the Royal Military Academy. Then we outline the situation in Brazil before and after the arrival of King D. João VI in Rio de Janeiro in 1808. We discuss in detail the founding document of the Academy, examining some of its more innovative aspects. We finish by underlining some of the characteristics of the students at the Academy in its first decade, and we describe some difficult situations affecting the Academy in the same period.

Keywords

• Portuguese mathematics
• Brazil
• 19th century
• Royal Military Academy