FOREIGN TRAVELERS AND URBAN LANDSCAPE OF THE CITY OF SÃO PAULO, 1808-1858

Abstract

This article condenses the main points of the investigation that resulted in the dissertation “The urban landscape of the city of São Paulo in the view of foreign travelers, 1808-1858” (Silva, 2002). Previous research, of specialization, also contributed to its development (Silva, 1995 and 1999). This study therefore investigates the use of reports of foreign travelers in the study of the urban landscape of the city of São Paulo in the period 1808 to 1858. Were used in the study the following works of travelers who passed through the city of Sao Paulo in the period analyzed: “Viagens ao interior do Brasil” by John Mawe (1764-1829), “Viagem pelo Brasil” by Johann Baptist Von Spix (1781-1826) and C. F. P. Von Martius (1794-1868), “Memória sobre a viagem do porto de Santos à cidade de Cuiabá” by Luiz D’Alincourt (1787-1841), “Viagem à província de São Paulo” and “Segunda viagem do Rio de Janeiro a Minas Gerais e a São Paulo, 1822” by Augusto Saint-Hilaire (1779-1853), “Viagem fluvial do Tietê ao Amazonas, 1825 a 1829” by Hércules Florence (1804-1879), “Viagem pitoresca através do Brasil” by Alcide Dessalines D’Orbigny (1802-1857), “Reminiscências de viagens e permanência nas Províncias do Sul do Brasil: Rio de Janeiro e Província de São Paulo compreendendo notícias históricas e geográficas do Império e das diversas províncias” by Daniel Parish Kidder (1815-1891) e “Viagens pelas províncias de Santa Catarina, Paraná e São Paulo, 1858” by Robert Avé-Lallemant (1812-1884). To substantiate the analysis of the urban landscape through these reports, we approach the historic city of São Paulo, as well as discussed the geographical study of the city in the past, in which they discussed the concepts of landscape and urban landscape, this being understood as formed by fixed elements and the people and activities that give life and movement. Determined then the elements of the urban landscape, based on the book “Espaço e Método”, by Milton Santos, adding up to six topics of analysis: geographical location, physical characterization, morphology of the urban fabric, population and social structures, economic activities in urban and relations with the surroundings. Through these topics were highlighted and analyzed the reports of travelers, providing an overview of the urban landscape of Sao Paulo in the period analyzed, demonstrating the possibility of analyzing the city passed through the accounts of foreign travelers.