Villages of the “verdadeiro Norte”: natividade e Arraias, from the perspective of George Gardner to nowadays

Abstract

In the 19th century, naturalist travelers began to come to Brazil in order to
describe and explore the territory. Between them was George Gardner (1810-1849), a
doctor, botanist and zoologist, who came to Brazil under the patronage of an english
botanist. Gardner traveled through regions of the Northeast and central Brazil, between
1836 and 1841, and recorded his impressions in the book Viagens no interior do Brasil,
which was the main source of this research. In his narratives, he describes in detail aspects
of the villages he passed through in the Province of Goyaz, between October 1839 and
May 1840. From these narratives, an imaginary is built about how these villages were in
the 19th century, which allows comparing their preservation in nowadays, highlighting in
this case the villages of Natividade and Arraias, both in the current state of Tocantins.
Moreover, through this research, he noticed the urban formation of the former captaincy
and later province of Goiás