Brazil explained in 100 images

November 25, 2013 10:17 AM

A tour of 150 years of Brazilian history through photography and other iconography.
posted by Tom-B (16 comments total)

Great stuff ! Thanks !
posted by nicolin at 10:19 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Last year I had the opportunity to go to the national history museum in Rio. It had fantastic exhibits on the early history of Brazil (colonization and empire), but not much on the 20th Century—this photo set gives me a great jumping off point into 20th Century topics. Thanks!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:40 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

And if you like this kinda stuff, then also check out 19th century photographer Marc Ferrez
posted by Tom-B at 11:05 AM on November 25, 2013

Absolutely fascinating! For many of us in the U.S., the bulk of our impressions about Brazil have their roots in the promotions of the WWII-era Good Neighbor policy, which focused on the arts, natural beauty, and tourism, and completely left out all the political and social history - and especially class struggle - covered in the earlier photos here.


(That doesn't mean I still don't love the enchanting "Aquarela do Brasil" with the charming Zé Carioca. Walt & El Grupo is an interesting documentary of the Good Neighbor tour that resulted in the Latin American-themed shorts.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:07 AM on November 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

"Italian immigrants arriving in São Paulo in 1890. Today, 60% of all paulistanos descend at least partially from Italians."

It just occurred to me to wonder why so many Italians left for the Americas in the 1890's. Was that a particularly horrid decade in Italy's history? Are there any good book recs about the Italian migration from that era? Where else did the go in large numbers besides the US & Brazil?

I think i fount an interestingly large blank spot in my historical knowledge.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:09 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Italian Diaspora
posted by Tom-B at 11:17 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

I once read a book about the early history of Brazil and the Empire of Brazil. (For some reason, I find it fascinating that an empire was declared in the Western Hemisphere...) I never continued on to the 20th Century and after seeing the photographs, I regret it. I once met a major, I believe, in the Brazilian military, and he seemed astonished that an American would be interested in his country. I think I'm now astonished as to why more Americans aren't.
posted by Atreides at 11:34 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

From Tom-B's wiki link: It is estimated up to 50-60% of the population or 20 million Argentines have full or partial Italian ancestry.

Whoa -- this totally explains my Argentine friend from jr. high school with the family name of Brando, & probably explains Manu Ginobili's name & crazy-large Aquiline nose. From history to Spurs basketball in one fell swoop -- oh, internets!
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:35 AM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

> For some reason, I find it fascinating that an empire was declared in the Western Hemisphere...

Sorry for the threadsitting, but this is really wild: Imagine Napoleon invading Britain, and George III fleeing to the United States, declaring Washington the new Capital of the British Empire...
posted by Tom-B at 12:02 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

A bit of that Imperial episode is covered in Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:11 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Whoa -- this totally explains my Argentine friend from jr. high school with the family name of Brando, & probably explains Manu Ginobili's name & crazy-large Aquiline nose. From history to Spurs basketball in one fell swoop -- oh, internets!

One of the "fun" things about Borges's editorial/nonfiction writing is his insistence on ignoring Italians and writing them out of Argentine history. He says, for instance, that the tango has nothing to do with them - it comes from the gauchos, descended, like him, from Iberians. He sounds for all the world like a Boston Brahmin pouring scorn on the Irish.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:53 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

>And if you like Marc Ferrez, you will probably like Alberto Henschel, who did the shot of Eugen Keller and his nanny. Like Italians, 19th century Germans came to Brazil in number and have made their mark.
posted by BWA at 1:18 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this Tom, I was working a bit on something similar myself and I made an FPP about Deep Brazil about a year ago.
If anyone is looking for something in modern times I recommend Lost Samba which is a little difficult to get around coherently but I suggest just clicking some of the tags like seventies or Salvador.
A more recent blogger in English who started earlier this year is Rio Gringa and I also like RioReal which is bilingual, same story both languages.
posted by adamvasco at 3:54 PM on November 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

so ... so Teleboobies was real?
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:35 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

The severed heads and the hung journalist were very gruesome.
posted by Narrative_Historian at 1:23 AM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Videos may capture more data with a single recording than photos, but nothing beats a whole series photographs across a period of time (due to it's relative convenience to video) to capture the period.
posted by postertext at 1:47 AM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]