THE INTERPRETERS AND THE HISTORICAL FORMATION OF BRAZIL: THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES OF A FORGOTTEN HISTORY

Abstract Brazil’s historical formation owes very much to the indispensable work of interpreters since the so-called ‘discovery’ until well advanced the 19th century. In this paper, we highlight the necessity of giving more visibility to interpreters and their contribution to Brazil’s cultural and linguistic history, in order to allow us to draw a more trustworthy picture of the complex relations between cultures, peoples and languages that characterized the country’s first four centuries. To do so, we emphasize the role these cultural agents have played for a re-writing of the translation history in Brazil. These agent, left aside or even invisible in general historiography, become here fundamental to the historical formation of Brazil in all its phases.