Emissaries, written and oral culture: circulation in the north of Portuguese America

Abstract

This article presents the circulation of written culture and oral culture in North America by the Portuguese in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth centuries. This movement linking continents through news, was intensified in major centers such as Recife, and also reached the men of the distant hinterlands. It also discusses about the emissaries who roamed the North and ended up collaborating for the movement of that culture. Planters, priests, traders and Indians were found in the documentation as contributors to this movement. The article is based on documents from the early nineteenth century along with the observations of Henry Koster, a English traveler who toured the northern region in the same period.