Imagined Forts in Imagined (Colonial) Landscapes

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Colonial Forts in Comparative, Global, and Contemporary Perspective", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Portuguese endeavor in the Atlantic started in 1415. By the time the Portuguese reached Brazil (1500) they had already settled in four Atlantic Archipelagos, and several places in Africa and were starting to establish a permanent presence in the Indian Ocean region which lasted for several centuries. On occasion their settlements were supported militarily by the construction of forts. These forts and colonial landscapes were imagined and represented on ceramics and tiles in Portugal. This paper examines how the Portuguese who never left Portugal perceived, imagined, and used these forts and their relations with the people, animals, plants, space, and time. These representations of imagined landscapes were felt as real by the ones who related to these objects and maintained these symbols of power, empire, and subalternation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Colonial Forts in Comparative, Global, and Contemporary Perspective   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow