La Gabrielle, cravo e canela: as “plantas preciosas” e a invasão portuguesa da Guiana Francesa (1796-1817)

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the invasion of French Guiana in January 1809 by Portuguese troops from the Grand Para with the help of the English Navy. To understand this invasion it took into account the political and cultural transformations at the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century in Europe involving the two big countries, Portugal and France. In the context of cultural change, it is perceived in that period an appreciation of nature and its pragmatic use. The agriculture and botany became economic forces and the acclimation of plant species became profitable such as spice, and became desired by governments. The French Guiana was chosen by the French government to the experiences of acclimatization that would prove successful, sparking the Portuguese interest. Meanwhile, in the political sphere, the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Rio de Janeiro, due to the invasion of Portuguese territory by Napoleonic troops, made possible something that was in the Portuguese plans since the early 1790s. The declaration of war by the Prince Regent to France after his arrival in America in 1808 was followed by planning the invasion of Guyana that would materialize in early 1809. In this study the understanding of invasion is linked to the culture of the Enlightenment and the coming of the Portuguese Court to America.