El arbitrismo sobre la América portuguesa y la herencia de los Austrias (1620-1655)

Abstract

This article examines the approach of arbitristas to Portuguese America, underlining the ties between the Iberian empires. Following on the Dutch invasions of Bahía (1624/25) and Pernambuco (1630), the arbitristas who wrote about Brazil produced various memoranda advising how to to defend and restore it. After the fall of Elmina (1637), Angola and the islands in the Gulf of Guinea to the Dutch (1641), the arbitristas changed their approach. From 1641 onwards, their writings adopt a new Atlantic perspective, stressing the links between Brazil and the African territories. Thus, they proposed solutions not only to protect and defend Brazil, but also to secure the structural conditions that defined its role within the Portuguese Empire.

Keywords

• Braganza dynasty
• conservation
• defense
• Portuguese America
• Portuguese Empire
• projectors