Geopolitics of bitterness: Deciphering the history and cultural biogeography of Quassia amara L.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Quassia amara L. recently came into the spotlight in French Guiana, when it became the object of a biopiracy claim. Due to the numerous use records throughout the Guiana shield, at least since the 18th century, a thorough investigation of its origin seemed relevant and timely. In the light of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya protocol, questions about the origin of local knowledge are important to debate. AIM OF THE STUDY: Defining cultural biogeography as the dynamics through space and time of biocultural complexes, we used this theoretical framework to shed light on the complex biogeographical and cultural history of Q. amara. We explored in particular the possible transfer of medicinal knowledge on an Old World species to a botanically related New World one by enslaved Africans in Suriname. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Historical and contemporary literature research was performed by means of digitized manuscripts, archives and databases from the 17th to the 21st century. We retrieved data from digitized herbarium vouchers in herbaria of the Botanic Garden Meise (Belgium); Naturalis Biodiversity Center (the Netherlands); Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum (USA); Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (UK); the IRD Herbarium, French Guiana and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (France). Vernacular names were retrieved from literature and herbarium specimens and compared to verify the origin of Quassia amara and its uses. RESULTS: Our exploration of digitized herbarium vouchers resulted in 1287 records, of which 661 were Q. amara and 636 were Q. africana. We observed that the destiny of this species, over at least 300 years, interweaves politics, economy, culture and medicine in a very complex way. Quassia amara's uses are difficult to attribute to specific cultural groups: the species is widely distributed in Central and South America, where it is popular among many ethnic groups. The species spread from Central to South America during the early 18th century due to political and economic reasons. This migration possibly resulted from simultaneous migration by religious orders (Jesuits) from Central America to northern South America and by Carib-speaking Amerindians (from northern South America to Suriname). Subsequently, through colonial trade networks, Q. amara spread to the rest of the world. The absence of African-derived local names in the Guiana shield suggests that Q. africana was not sufficiently familiar to enslaved Africans in the region that they preserved its names and transferred the associated medicinal knowledge to Q. amara. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural biogeography has proven an interesting concept to reconstruct the dynamics of biocultural interactions through space and time, while herbarium databases have shown to be useful to decipher evolution of local plant knowledge. Tracing the origin of a knowledge is nevertheless a complex adventure that deserves time and interdisciplinary studies.

Os mapas da população no Estado do Grão-Pará: consolidação de uma população colonial na segunda metade do século XVIII / Population Tables in Grao-Para captaincies: consolidation of a colonial population in the final half of the XVIIIth century / Los mapas de población en el Estado de Grão-Pará: consolidación de una población colonial en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII

A partir de meados do século XVIII, no contexto das chamadas Reformas Pombalinas, as "Leis de Liberdade dos Índios" incorporaram uma vasta região no norte da América portuguesa à administração civil, transformando mais de 60 aldeamentos missionários em vilas e lugares portugueses de população majoritariamente indígena. Esta pesquisa propõe-se a investigar a evolução demográfica dos índios aldeados e da população livre não aldeada sob esse novo regime. Para uma parte da historiografia, a população das vilas e lugares indígenas, sob o Diretório (1757-1798), era mantida artificialmente pelo constante aporte de novos contingentes de povos nativos, por meio dos descimentos. No entanto, a análise dos mapas de população elaborados a partir de 1773 mostra um crescimento lento, mas consistente de todos os grupos da população das capitanias do Estado do Grão-Pará, mesmo sofrendo os danos das frequentes epidemias e do trabalho compulsório ao qual estava sujeita a maior parte da população indígena.

As of the mid-eighteenth century, in the context of the so-called Pombaline Reforms, Indian Freedom Laws incorporated a large region in northern Portuguese America into civilian administration, transforming more than sixty missionary settlements into Portuguese villages and sites with predominantly indigenous population. This paper seeks to research into the demographic evolution of "aldeado" (subject to compulsory labour) indians and the free non- "aldeado" population under this new regime. For some historians, the population of Indian villages under the Directorio (1757-1798) was artificially maintained by the constant influx of new contingents of native peoples through descimentos. However, the analysis of population tables produced since 1773 shows a slow but consistent growth of all population groups in the captaincies of the State of Grão-Pará, even suffering frequent epidemics and harm from compulsory work to which by the majority of the indigenous population was subject.

Desde mediados del siglo XVIII, en el contexto de las denominadas reformas pombalinas, las Leyes de Libertad de los Indios incorporaran una inmensa región en el norte de la América portuguesa a la administración civil y transformaron más de sesenta reducciones misioneras en municípios portugueses de población predominantemente indígena. Esta investigación se propone investigar la evolución demográfica de los indios «aldeados¼ y de la población libre no «aldeada¼ bajo el nuevo régimen. Para una parte de la historiografía, la población de las villas y lugares indígenas se mantuvo artificialmente, en el marco del Directorio (1757-1798), por el suministro constante de nuevos contingentes de pueblos nativos por medio de los descensos. Sin embargo, el análisis de los mapas de población compilados desde 1773 muestra un crecimiento lento pero consistente de todos los grupos de población de las capitanías del estado de Grão-Pará, a pesar de las epidemias frecuentes y de los daños provocados por el trabajo obligatorio que sujetaba a la mayoría de la población indígena.

The scientist as historian: Paulo Vanzolini and the origins of zoology in Brazil / O cientista como historiador: Paulo Vanzolini e as origens da zoologia no Brasil

The Brazilian Paulo Vanzolini is one of the leading herpetologists worldwide. Besides his publications as a zoologist and his activities as a former museum curator and policymaker, Vanzolini pursued a long-life career as a musician and contributed to many different fields such as biostatistics, biogeography and the history of science. The paper analyzes his historical contributions to a key chapter of science in Southern America, the legacy of the so-called traveler naturalists. His analyses comprise major scientists such as Marcgrave, Spix, von Martius, Wied-Neuwied, Castelnau, and Agassiz, are informed by re-analyses of original sources and represent an invaluable repository of historical and scientific information.

O brasileiro Paulo Vanzolini é um dos mais importantes herpetologistas do mundo. Além de suas publicações como zoólogo, das atividades de curadoria museológica e de sua atuação na formulação de políticas científicas, Vanzolini tem longa carreira como músico e contribuições a diferentes áreas de conhecimento como bioestatística, biogeografia e história das ciências. O artigo analisa suas contribuições a capítulo fundamental da história das ciências na América do Sul, o legado dos naturalistas viajantes. Suas análises incluem importantes cientistas como Marcgrave, Spix, von Martius, Wied-Neuwied, Castelnau e Agassiz, são feitas a partir da retomada de fontes originais e representam valioso repositório de informações históricas e científicas.