O boticário de Nova Amsterdam : identificação e exploração da natureza no Brasil holandês

Abstract

RESUMO: A presente tese investiga a producao do conhecimento sobre a natureza brasileira no contexto da dominacao holandesa no nordeste do Brasil, no seculo XVII, enfatizando a articulacao entre os saberes registrados e praticas cotidianas no espaco colonial. Inserida no cenario da expansão europeia pelo Atlantico, a analise busca estabelecer como os interesses intelectuais, econômicos e politicos moldaram a maneira com que a natureza tropical foi percebida e explorada. Considerando a obra Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648), bem como de outros registros escritos e visuais, a pesquisa demonstra que o conhecimento natural foi construido na interacao entre observacao empirica, tradicao humanista e saberes locais, alem de interesses de ordem social, politica e economica. Ao longo dos capitulos, examinam-se as percepcoes medicas sobre o ambiente, a circulacao de produtos naturais e o uso pratico dos recursos na colonia. A analise tambem demonstra o descompasso entre o conhecimento sistematizado nos tratados e sua aplicacao, onde buscou-se evidenciar que a producao do saber institucionalizado esteve condicionada as exigencias do colonialismo. Por fim, estudo considera que a ordenacao da natureza brasileira constituiu um empreendimento dinamico, resultado da circulacao material e imaterial entre colonia e Europa.

ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates the production of knowledge about Brazilian nature in the context of Dutch rule over northeastern Brazil in the seventeenth century, emphasizing the articulation between recorded knowledge and everyday practices in the colonial space. Situated within the context of European Atlantic expansion, the analysis seeks to establish how intellectual, economic, and political interests shaped the ways in which tropical nature was perceived and exploited. Drawing on the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648) as well as other written and visual records, the research demonstrates that natural knowledge was constructed through the interplay of empirical observation, humanist tradition, and local knowledge, alongside social, political, and economic interests. Across its chapters, the thesis examines medical perceptions of the environment, the circulation of natural products, and the practical use of resources in the colony. The analysis further reveals a gap between the knowledge systematized in treatises and its actual application, arguing that the production of institutionalized knowledge was conditioned by the demands of colonialism. Finally, the study concludes that the ordering of Brazilian nature constituted a dynamic enterprise, shaped by the material and imaterial circulation between colony and Europe.