OS BOTOCUDOS NA EUROPA NA DÉCADA DE 1820

Abstract

In the 1820s, at least seven Botocudos from Minas Gerais (two women, four men, and one child) lived in Europe, where three more children were born. Three of them resided in the households of imperial or noble families in Austria and Germany, while the other four were exhibited to the public in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, attracting considerable attention. Only one returned to Brazil, while the remains of at least three became part of museum collections. This article describes the experiences of these involuntary witnesses of cultural diversity, placing them within the broader history of Indigenous peoples taken to Europe. It also explores the motivations of their “collectors,” the strategies used in exhibiting these individuals, and the impact of such practices on public perceptions of “primitiveness,” addressing both alterity and shared humanity. Although they were presented to European audiences as representatives of a supposedly cannibalistic people placed at the lowest level of cultural development, they were nonetheless recognized as human beings and, often, as captivating individuals.