Lives and knowledges in transit

the indigenous preparers Cipriano de Souza and José da Silva on the Philosophic Journey across the Portuguese Colonial Amazon (1783-1798)

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to highlight the records about the role of the indigenous Cipriano de Souza and José da Silva as preparers of natural products in the legacy documentation of the Philosophical Journey of the naturalist Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira in the last decades of the 18th century. As studies in the field of the history of science have argued, a local support network could not be dismissed by naturalists on land and river trips, as well as for the recognition and collection of specimens of the flora, fauna and minerals of the territories covered. An attempt was made to map the references to the active presence of the two indigenous people in the years in which the expedition traveled through the captaincies of Pará, São José do Rio Negro and Mato Grosso and Cuiabá. In the same way, the displacement of Cipriano de Souza and José da Silva to Lisbon after the Philosophical Journey ended was discussed. Although the participation of the two indigenous people in the expedition is known, it is still necessary to gather the fragments of documents that mention them and highlight the transit of their bodies and knowledge between the backlands of Portuguese America and Europe.