Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Travelogues - Observations centered on the narrative of Edward D. Mathews
Traveler; Mathews; Indigenous; Imperialism; Amazon
The following research is based on 19th-century travel accounts, primarily by English engineer Edward Davies Mathews, which were translated into Portuguese and published in 2022 by Professor Dr. Helio Rocha, under the title “Travels Through the Amazon and Madeira Rivers - (Brazil), Bolivia, and Peru (1872-1874).” The objective of this research is to present the nineteenth-century Amazon, its culture, economy, and society, with a primary focus on the Madeira River. The context of these selected accounts is embedded within the first rubber boom and the transformations that rubber exports were generating in the Amazon region. Consequently, the accounts of Mathews and other travelers will be approached within a decolonizing interpretative context, thus observing their imperialist discourses, purposes, and intentions. Furthermore, this legacy left by the traveler is utilized as a historiographical artifact for connection, comparison, and observation, both within the literary field and within the historiographical field.