Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition. An aspect of Brazil - USA relations and the consolidation of the Rondon myth

• Autor(a) principal: Martins Júnior, Carlos
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Albuquerque (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufms.br/index.php/AlbRHis/article/view/3904
• topic: Mato Grosso; Settlement; Rondon; Mato Grosso; Colonização; Rondon

Between November 1913 and May 1914 there occurred, in Mato Grosso, the “Roosevelt- Rondon Scientific Expedition”. Carried out during the consolidation process of the north-west frontier of Brazil, such experience was narrated by Theodore Roosevelt in his book Through the Brazilian Wilderness, published in 1914. By enhancing the interpretation that the Expedition followed merely “scientific” principles and by drawing a profile of Rondon as a man of “science” and a “civilizer” of indigenous populations, major elements for building up the cult to his personality, Roosevelt helped to make the true motivations of the event obscure. Following the historic process which motivated the Expedition, I intend to point out that this enterprise was linked to the settlement projects under way in Mato Grosso and to the pan-American policy practiced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.