Glimpses of British Guiana at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886

This paper uses the example of the British Guiana Court at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 as a case study to demonstrate how British Guiana (now Guyana) was represented in Britain at the time, by cross-referencing different materials (e.g. objects, correspondence, reports, and newspapers from that period). This exhibition also shows which raw materials from the British Guiana were of interest to Britain and the involvement of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in this matter. Nevertheless, the exhibition not only displayed objects and commodities, such as the case of sugar, but also displayed people. Here, particular attention is paid to the Amerindians who were portrayed as living ethnological exhibits at the exhibition. This paper aims to understand how British Guiana was seen and administered by its mother country and also how Everard im Thurn (1852-1932), the explorer, sought to manoeuvre that representation, as well as his relation with RBG, Kew. Taking into consideration that this colony was a neglected area of the British Empire, even in im Thurn’s time, this exhibition was an opportunity not only to display the empire but also for advertising the potential of the neglected colony and to ensure that it would not be forgotten.

Conflitos ambientais e progresso técnico na indústria mineira e metalúrgica em Portugal (1858-1938)

This chapter explores the relationship between environmental conflicts and technical progress, trying to understand, in the case of large mines of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, in Alentejo, how emerging environmental problems conditioned the performance or led to the search for alternative technical solutions, taking as chronological limit for this observation the beginning of World War II. In the absence of the archives of the companies, the research was based on existing administrative documents in the state archives (mining engineers reports, the licensing of mining activities), on reports and documents published in specialized mining press, in particular, the Bulletin of the Ministry of Public Works, Trade and Industry, the Journal of Public Works, Trade and Industry (both in Portuguese), and finally in the local press. Despite that limitation, the information available shows that in global competition markets, the success of the British enterprise in Santo Domingo had the active search for new technical solutions for the creation and adaptation of existing knowledge to local problems in order to maximize the mineral resources available. The early development of the hydrometallurgical processes for the treatment of poor ores, named ‘natural cementation’, can be explained as the way these companies tried to solve problems of competitiveness, boosting economies of scale. Thus, they transferred the environmental costs previously limited to agriculture to more fragile social groups, the poor fishermen of Guadiana River and of Vila Real de Santo António. Therefore, the hydrometallurgy of pyrites was developed locally, pioneered in Santo Domingo that allowed the survival and expansion of the British company from the late 1870s, that is, at a time when most small mines shut since they were not able to compete globally. Through different consented and regulated processes (judicial), through conflict or parliamentary mediation, the State imposed exceptionally additional costs to companies, either for compensation, the imposing the application of remediation measures to reduce the environmental damage in some cases, thus contributing to derail some projects. These cases suggest that the interaction between local conflicts, corporate behavior and technological progress proves to be complex. This article aims to contribute to the debate on economic and social history between the environment and technological progress, arguing that the fixed costs and economic imponderable social risks were factors that encouraged the companies to search for new solutions and to introduce innovations since that would allow the expansion of their activity. In this process the companies sometimes faced environmental dilemmas and unforeseen costs with consequences on the economy of firms. The nature of the knowledge needed to address the environmental problems they created, however, is of a very different nature from that knowledge needed to face the environmental burdens that were inherent to the development of its activity.

A cidade e o rio: origem e evolução da frente ribeirinha de Lisboa

Em Lisboa, ao longo dos séculos, o homem foi conquistando as águas do Tejo. Hoje, após os diversos aterros, a frente ribeirinha da cidade é uma consolidada faixa de terreno, rematada por muros que, contra a «ondulação» do Tejo, definem uma expandida área que acolhe uma intensa actividade portuária. Foi nesta faixa junto do rio que se desenrolou parte importante da história de Lisboa, desde as ocupações romana e muçulmana, e também muito particularmente aquando do período dos Descobrimentos, da reconstrução pombalina pós-terramoto e do surto industrial do século XIX. Alguns destes momentos históricos encontram-se reflectidos nas inúmeras plantas, cartas e mapas disponíveis neste estudo, desde a Planta da Cidade de Lisboa : 1650, de João Nunes Tinoco, até ao Plano de Melhoramentos do Porto de Lisboa, de 1946. É com base nessas plantas, mas também em cartas manuscritas, relatos de época, gravuras e fotografias antigas – documentos em grande parte inéditos –, que este trabalho de investigação propõe cartografar este território, realizando desenhos originais que possibilitam um novo olhar sobre o seu processo de crescimento e consolidação. Assim, este estudo concilia todos estes elementos, constituindo uma análise completa que se debruça sobre a evolução da frente ribeirinha de Lisboa e que permite descobrir inúmeros aspectos até aqui desconhecidos, ajudando a responder à pergunta que hoje se coloca: perante o cenário que o porto actual atravessa, como melhor poderá Lisboa recuperar a relação com o rio?; THE CITY AND THE RIVER: ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LISBON'S RIVERFRONT ABSTRACT: In Lisbon, over the centuries, man was conquering the waters of the Tagus. Today, after the various landfills, the city's riverfront is a consolidated strip of land, finished by walls that, against the "ripple" of the Tagus, define an expanded area that hosts an intense port activity. It was in this band along the river that unfolded important part of the history of Lisbon, from the Roman and Muslim occupations, and also very particularly during the period of the Discoveries, the post-earthquake reconstruction, and the industrial boom of the nineteenth century. Some of these historical moments are reflected in many plans, charts and maps available in this study, since the plan designated Planta da Cidade de Lisboa : 1650, made by João Nunes Tinoco, to the plan called Plano de Melhoramentos do Porto de Lisboa, drawn in the year of 1946. Based on these plans, but also in handwritten letters, time reports, antique prints and photographs – documents that are mostly unpublished – this research work proposes map this territory, performing original drawings that provide a new look at their growth process and consolidation. Thereby, this study combines all these elements, providing a complete analysis which focuses on the evolution of the Lisbon riverfront and that allows you to discover many aspects unknown until now, helping to answer the question that now arises: according to the present scenario that the harbour is going through, how can Lisbon recover the relationship with the river?