Travel and Tourism

Emília Snethlage and Heloisa Alberto Torres the scientists and travelers of the 20th century Amazon

Abstract

The trips in the Amazon region bring up many perspectives of research in different
areas of knowledge. Studies in history, mainly, show themselves as windows to the
notion of that space that has always taken over the Eurocentric imaginary. And
Tourism has also sought to expand investigations about the region, based on
theories of travel. Travelers and naturalists were the main characters who came and
landed here to write, paint and study the natural and human components of the
region. These male travelers comprised a majority. But, women were also present
here, exploring and researching the Amazon, specifically the State of Pará. Science
was one of the main pillars for the exploration of the Amazon to become part of the
experience of these and, perhaps, “first and first tourists ”. The objective of this
research is to present how two scientists, a German Emília Snethlage and a
Brazilian Heloísa Alberto Torres developed research in the Amazon of Pará and
from their studies point out a possible connection with the History of Tourism in the
region. These two scientists became important names in the natural and social
sciences, respectively, in Brazil and in the world. The theoretical approach of this
article is built on the History of Science and Tourism. Going through the study of
Gender, as the focus is two female scientists. The methodology supported in
History, where the sources in libraries such as Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, and
in websites of the National Digital Library and the collection of the National Archives
of Rio de Janeiro are the objects of analysis of the travels of these scientists.
Instruments used are travel reports, letters, newspaper clippings, publications in
which these researchers' incursions appear. Among the main results to date, the
travels of these women scientists included elements that today are understood as
tourist facilities, such as: lodging, transport, food, networks of guides. It is interesting
to note how these surveys come close to understanding how the region was
investigated by them. And even more so, their letters and reports show how these
trips, besides being scientific, envisioned the understanding of how History and
Tourism can come together as disciplines to understand how the tourist activity
developed in the Amazon region.