“Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths

Marcus Baccega

doi:doi:10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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“Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths

Marcus Baccega

Published in History Research (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Received: 10 June 2022 Accepted: 24 June 2022 Published: 30 June 2022

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Abstract

In which sense could we possibly catch a glimpse of “Medieval Islands” on the Amazonian coast? This paper aims at unravelling and explaining how some old medieval Portuguese mythical matter and mythemes do still exist and thrive in terms of popular culture on the “Island of Maranhão”, i.e. Upaon Açu or the “Isle of São Luís” until the present time, in comparison to some mythical elements to be found on the Island of Marajó, in Pará. Both Pará and Maranhão are Amazonian federal states of Brazil and this paper emphasizes the historical permanence of medieval mythemes, of course combined with other very complex and cross-cultural heritages pertaining to nowaday population of Maranhão, to which the Island of Marajó shall be a term of historical and archaeological comparison. We expect to arouse scholars’ interest to our subject in a Global History perspective, which takes into account the links and unexpected cultural traits of Middle Ages still thriving in Brazilian popular culture as the upshot of a long-term and complex cross-cultural process that has been taking place in American countries since the late 15th. century. Little attention has been paid to the role of medieval mythemes along this complex process and I should like to endeavour to fill this historiographic gap by proposing the present paper. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss the evidence of a medieval past transposed to the Portuguese Amazon, whose legacy is up to our days a very plentiful popular culture in terms of medieval references, such as the phantom barks and “Mothers of Creeks”, as we pimpoint along the text. This essay is keen to address this polemic topic by drawing on some authors and theorists who, in our view, must be brought back to the proscenium of scientific discussion concerning Social Sciences. The first and main one is Luís da Câmara Cascudo, a major folklorist and researcher whom we should like to introduce to international academic readers. Hence, this little essay aims at wreaking new academic discussion on the formation and colonization of the Amazon in cross-cultural terms.

Published in	History Research (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.history.20221001.18
Page(s)	70-77
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Medieval Heritage, Amazonian Coast, Atlantic Connections

References

[1]	ANCHIETA, José de. Décima Carta de São Vicente. Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Academia Brasileira de Letras, 1993.
[2]	BACCEGA, Marcus. The charmed bull in the night of times: Sebastião, the sacrament of King Arthur. In: BACCEGA, Marcus (org.) Combates e Concórdias. Temporalidades do Conflito e da Conciliação na Tradição Medieval. Curitiba: Editora CRV, 2016.
[3]	BHABHA, Homi. The location of culture. Cambridge: Routledge Classics, 2004.
[4]	CARDIM, Fernão. Tratados da Terra e da Gente do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Leite & Cia, 1925.
[5]	CASCUDO, Luís da Câmara. Geografia dos Mitos Brasileiros. São Paulo: Global Editora, 2010.
[6]	CASCUDO, Luís da Câmara. Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro. São Paulo: Global Editora, 2002.
[7]	FERRETTI, Mundicarmo. Rei da Turquia no Tambor de Mina Maranhense: a importância de um livro na mitologia de uma tradição oral. In. ZIERER, Adriana. XIMENDES, Carlos Alberto. História Antiga e Medieval. Cultura e Ensino. São Luís do Maranhão: Editora UEMA, 2009.
[8]	FRANCO JÚNIOR, Hilário. As raízes medievais do Brasil. In: Revista da Universidade de São Paulo, V. 78, 2008.
[9]	FURTADO, Celso. Formação Econômica do Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 2004.
[10]	GANDAVO, Pero de Magalhães. História da Província de Santa Cruz. Rio de Janeiro: Anuário do Brasil, 1924.
[11]	GRAMSCI, Antonio. Quaderni del Carcere. Antologia a cura di Mario de Vito. San Benedetto del Tronto: Mauna Loa Edizioni, 2020.
[12]	HOLANDA, Sérgio Buarque de. Visão do Paraíso. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1993.
[13]	LE GOFF, Jacques. L’imaginaire médiéval. Paris: Gallimard, 1985.
[14]	LE GOFF, Jacques. Il meraviglioso e il quotidiano nell’Occidente medievale. Roma: Laterza, 1999.
[15]	NAVARRO, Alexandre Guida. The World of Anaconda: the myth of the snake-canoe and its relationship with the stilt villages of Eastern Amazonia. In BRASILIANA: Journal for Brazilian Studies, V. 9, N. 2, 2020.
[16]	PRADO JÚNIOR, Caio. Formação do Brasil Contemporâneo. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1997.
[17]	SALVADOR, Frei Vicente. História do Brasil. São Paulo: Weiszflog Irmãos, 1918.
[18]	WECKMANN, Luís. La herencia medieval de Brasil. México: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1993.
[19]	ZIERER, Adriana. Da Ilha dos Bem-Aventurados à Busca do Santo Graal. São Luís do Maranhão: Editora UEMA, 2013.

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APA Style

Marcus Baccega. (2022). “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. History Research, 10(1), 70-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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ACS Style

Marcus Baccega. “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. Hist. Res. 2022, 10(1), 70-77. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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AMA Style

Marcus Baccega. “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. Hist Res. 2022;10(1):70-77. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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@article{10.11648/j.history.20221001.18,
  author = {Marcus Baccega},
  title = {“Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {70-77},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20221001.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20221001.18},
  abstract = {In which sense could we possibly catch a glimpse of “Medieval Islands” on the Amazonian coast? This paper aims at unravelling and explaining how some old medieval Portuguese mythical matter and mythemes do still exist and thrive in terms of popular culture on the “Island of Maranhão”, i.e. Upaon Açu or the “Isle of São Luís” until the present time, in comparison to some mythical elements to be found on the Island of Marajó, in Pará. Both Pará and Maranhão are Amazonian federal states of Brazil and this paper emphasizes the historical permanence of medieval mythemes, of course combined with other very complex and cross-cultural heritages pertaining to nowaday population of Maranhão, to which the Island of Marajó shall be a term of historical and archaeological comparison. We expect to arouse scholars’ interest to our subject in a Global History perspective, which takes into account the links and unexpected cultural traits of Middle Ages still thriving in Brazilian popular culture as the upshot of a long-term and complex cross-cultural process that has been taking place in American countries since the late 15th. century. Little attention has been paid to the role of medieval mythemes along this complex process and I should like to endeavour to fill this historiographic gap by proposing the present paper. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss the evidence of a medieval past transposed to the Portuguese Amazon, whose legacy is up to our days a very plentiful popular culture in terms of medieval references, such as the phantom barks and “Mothers of Creeks”, as we pimpoint along the text. This essay is keen to address this polemic topic by drawing on some authors and theorists who, in our view, must be brought back to the proscenium of scientific discussion concerning Social Sciences. The first and main one is Luís da Câmara Cascudo, a major folklorist and researcher whom we should like to introduce to international academic readers. Hence, this little essay aims at wreaking new academic discussion on the formation and colonization of the Amazon in cross-cultural terms.},
 year = {2022}
}

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Author Information

Marcus Baccega

Departmento de História, Universidade Federal do Maranhao, Sao Luis, Brazil

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APA Style

Marcus Baccega. (2022). “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. History Research, 10(1), 70-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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ACS Style

Marcus Baccega. “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. Hist. Res. 2022, 10(1), 70-77. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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AMA Style

Marcus Baccega. “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths. Hist Res. 2022;10(1):70-77. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20221001.18

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@article{10.11648/j.history.20221001.18,
  author = {Marcus Baccega},
  title = {“Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {70-77},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20221001.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20221001.18},
  abstract = {In which sense could we possibly catch a glimpse of “Medieval Islands” on the Amazonian coast? This paper aims at unravelling and explaining how some old medieval Portuguese mythical matter and mythemes do still exist and thrive in terms of popular culture on the “Island of Maranhão”, i.e. Upaon Açu or the “Isle of São Luís” until the present time, in comparison to some mythical elements to be found on the Island of Marajó, in Pará. Both Pará and Maranhão are Amazonian federal states of Brazil and this paper emphasizes the historical permanence of medieval mythemes, of course combined with other very complex and cross-cultural heritages pertaining to nowaday population of Maranhão, to which the Island of Marajó shall be a term of historical and archaeological comparison. We expect to arouse scholars’ interest to our subject in a Global History perspective, which takes into account the links and unexpected cultural traits of Middle Ages still thriving in Brazilian popular culture as the upshot of a long-term and complex cross-cultural process that has been taking place in American countries since the late 15th. century. Little attention has been paid to the role of medieval mythemes along this complex process and I should like to endeavour to fill this historiographic gap by proposing the present paper. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss the evidence of a medieval past transposed to the Portuguese Amazon, whose legacy is up to our days a very plentiful popular culture in terms of medieval references, such as the phantom barks and “Mothers of Creeks”, as we pimpoint along the text. This essay is keen to address this polemic topic by drawing on some authors and theorists who, in our view, must be brought back to the proscenium of scientific discussion concerning Social Sciences. The first and main one is Luís da Câmara Cascudo, a major folklorist and researcher whom we should like to introduce to international academic readers. Hence, this little essay aims at wreaking new academic discussion on the formation and colonization of the Amazon in cross-cultural terms.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - “Medieval” Islands on the Amazonian Coast: Medieval Remains in the Amazonian Popular Culture and Culturally Interlarded Myths
AU  - Marcus Baccega
Y1  - 2022/06/30
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18
DO  - 10.11648/j.history.20221001.18
T2  - History Research
JF  - History Research
JO  - History Research
SP  - 70
EP  - 77
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-6719
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20221001.18
AB  - In which sense could we possibly catch a glimpse of “Medieval Islands” on the Amazonian coast? This paper aims at unravelling and explaining how some old medieval Portuguese mythical matter and mythemes do still exist and thrive in terms of popular culture on the “Island of Maranhão”, i.e. Upaon Açu or the “Isle of São Luís” until the present time, in comparison to some mythical elements to be found on the Island of Marajó, in Pará. Both Pará and Maranhão are Amazonian federal states of Brazil and this paper emphasizes the historical permanence of medieval mythemes, of course combined with other very complex and cross-cultural heritages pertaining to nowaday population of Maranhão, to which the Island of Marajó shall be a term of historical and archaeological comparison. We expect to arouse scholars’ interest to our subject in a Global History perspective, which takes into account the links and unexpected cultural traits of Middle Ages still thriving in Brazilian popular culture as the upshot of a long-term and complex cross-cultural process that has been taking place in American countries since the late 15th. century. Little attention has been paid to the role of medieval mythemes along this complex process and I should like to endeavour to fill this historiographic gap by proposing the present paper. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss the evidence of a medieval past transposed to the Portuguese Amazon, whose legacy is up to our days a very plentiful popular culture in terms of medieval references, such as the phantom barks and “Mothers of Creeks”, as we pimpoint along the text. This essay is keen to address this polemic topic by drawing on some authors and theorists who, in our view, must be brought back to the proscenium of scientific discussion concerning Social Sciences. The first and main one is Luís da Câmara Cascudo, a major folklorist and researcher whom we should like to introduce to international academic readers. Hence, this little essay aims at wreaking new academic discussion on the formation and colonization of the Amazon in cross-cultural terms.
VL  - 10
IS  - 1
ER  -

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