Capistrano de Abreu, João (1853–1927)

João Capistrano de Abreu (b. 23 October 1853; d. 13 August 1927), Brazilian historian, scholar, and journalist. A landowner's son born in Maranguape, Ceará, Capistrano's formal education stopped at the colégio (secondary school). Widely read in French, English, and German, he was profoundly influenced by Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer. In 1875, Capistrano moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he lived until his death, and worked as a schoolteacher, journalist, and bureaucrat. His historical writings drew on a formidable talent for archival research and displayed an original, penetrating mind. However, this work was largely restricted to short articles and reviews that did not sustain the promise of his first book, O descobrimento do Brasil e seu desenvolvimento no século XVI (1883). A distrust of worldly success, deep pessimism about life, the premature death of his wife, and time spent on scholarly translations and ethnographic research explain Capistrano's failure to write what contemporaries expected of him: a definitive study of colonial Brazil. Capítulos de história colonial, 1500–1800 (1907), a commissioned work, is no more than suggestive of such a study. Nonetheless, his writings remain invaluable for their insights and analytical power, and Capistrano stands at the forefront of Brazilian historians.

See alsoPositivism .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José Aurélio Saravia Câmara, Capistrano de Abreu tentativa biobibliográfico (Rio de Janeiro, 1965).

José Honôrio Rodrigues, História e historiadores do Brasil (São Paulo, 1965), pp. 34-53.

Additional Bibliography

Fringer, Katherine. "The Contribution of Capistrano de Abreu to Brazilian Historiography." Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 13 (April 1971): 258-278.

Holanda, Firmino. Capistrano de Abreu. Fortaleza: Edições Demócrito Rocha, 2002.

                                      Roderick J. Barman