THE DESCRIPTIONS OF RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON ABOUT THE SOUTHEAST ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS

Abstract

The expeditions carried out in the 19th Century, a period of systematization of various sciences including geography, produced historical documents with analyses based on anthropological and natural knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to present the contributions of the work Viagens aos Planaltos do Brasil published by Richard Francis Burton in 1868, with emphasis on relations with Physical Geography. The work published by Burton has an improved description of the cultural aspects due to specialization in Anthropology, but brought important analyses on geological aspects and regional descriptions about the southeast mountain region. The geological and pedological analyses, in a period when Geomorphology did not yet exist as much systematized area, were supported by references produced since the beginning of the 19th Century, by the coming of the royal family to Brazil, and geologists specialists in Engineering of Minas Gerais who were interested in the mineral resources of Minas Gerais. Burton, in the 19th century, already presents in his analyses the changes in the climate due to deforestation and seeks a faithful description with a critical sense based on the knowledge of the Natural Sciences. In a way, the work becomes geographical due to a direct relationship between cultural and natural aspects.