Cristina Brito

This article examines the voyage of the Leviathan, a brigantine that sailed from Newport, Rhode Island, in 1773, in search of new sperm whale grounds in the South Atlantic but ended its journey off the coast of Brazil. There, its crew was arrested and persuaded to teach sperm-whaling techniques under Portuguese colonial authorities. Bringing together the trajectories of a Jewish merchant, a New England captain, a Portuguese viceroy, and sperm whales themselves, the voyage marked the beginning of sperm whale hunting in Brazilian waters. At the same time, it triggered an unplanned process of technological and environmental knowledge transfer across imperial borders. Drawing on Environmental History, Blue Humanities, and Atlantic Studies, the article argues that the Leviathan functioned as both a borderscape and as a boundary-crossing device, linking human and nonhuman actors across political, ecological, social, and oceanic frontiers. By reconstructing this incidental voyage through a connected and more-than-human perspective, the article proposes a transdisciplinary approach to the writing of Early Modern Atlantic history.

The West Indian manatee ( Trichechus manatus) and the Amazonian manatee ( Trichechus inunguis) have been exploited by different societies from ancient times to the present. Deploying the matrix of Indigenous knowledge and uses, the hunting of manatees was at the core of European colonisation strategies of the Americas within a framework of appropriation, use, and consumption of aquatic mammals spanning the (post)colonial period. Today, both species are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as Vulnerable, and population trends are expected to decrease in the future. While the exploitation of manatees (in particular, T. inungis) is well described in the 20th century, no overall quantitative assessments of such exploitation in the preceding centuries have been made. Here, we address this gap of knowledge through a systematic review of the literature, identification and review of documentary sources, selection and extraction of quantitative data, and contextual analysis through cross-analysis of historical documents of several types. Our quantitative estimates resulted in a total of 14.030 individuals captured, which are most probably largely underestimated. It corresponds to a biomass removal of 6.248,9 tonnes in a period of non-continuous 52 years between the 16 th and the 19 th centuries. Specifically, an average of c. 14.000 manatees were hunted between 1843 and 1898, comprising 91% of all captures prior to the twentieth century when another point of accelerated extraction occurred. We determined a trend of increasing captures from the 17 th to the 20 th centuries, for Brazil, but an important lacuna of data for the 16 th century, and pre-European contact, persists. However, the results inform current and future conservation measures for the species, while also including historical, cultural, traditional, and indigenous perspectives about the use of aquatic resources.

Baleias, peixes-boi e tartarugas (de água doce e marinhas) estão entre as espécies aquáticas mais valorizadas pelos colonos e exploradores europeus do Atlântico ao longo do período moderno. No processo de contato com a ecologia tropical, com base numa perceção de abundância e de recursos inesgotáveis, estes animais foram selecionados como recursos de subsistência, mas também mercantilizados pelos europeus. Isso aconteceu, muitas vezes, com base na observação da sua utilização e captura pelas sociedades locais para fins de alimentação, transformação em utensílios, ou como elementos integrantes das suas práticas religiosas e culturais. Neste trabalho, iremos abordar algumas das questões da exploração local de recursos aquáticos, construídas sobre perceções locais e indígenas e transformadas pelas estruturas coloniais da época moderna. É discutido o caso de manatins e de tartarugas para a América Central e do Sul a partir das fontes históricas, principalmente, para os impérios ibéricos. Assim, mostramos como os animais aquáticos têm sido sistematicamente apropriados, explorados, transformados e mercantilizados, deixando adivinhar algumas das implicações sociais, políticas, econômicas e ambientais para o Atlântico moderno. Estas interações e relações pré-industriais de longa distância, que designamos como teleconexões oceânicas, são sustentadas na utilização e extrações de animais e impactos em ecossistemas do mar aberto, zonas costeiras e estuarinas.

Marine functional connectivity (MFC) refers to the flows of organic matter, genes, and energy that are caused by the active and passive movements of marine organisms. Occurring at various temporal and spatial scales, MFC is a dynamic, constantly evolving global ecological process, part of overall ecological connectivity, but with its own distinct and specific patterns. Geological and historical archives of changes in the distributions, life histories, and migration of species can provide baselines for deciphering the long-term trends (decadal to millions of years) and variability of MFC. In this food-for-thought paper, we identify the different types of geohistorical data that can be used to study past MFC. We propose resources that are available for such work. Finally, we offer a roadmap outlining the most appropriate approaches for analysing and interpreting these data, the biases and limitations involved, and what we consider to be the primary themes for future research in this field. Overall, we demonstrate how, despite differences in norms and limitations between disciplines, valuable data on ecological and societal change can be extracted from geological and historical archives, and be used to understand changes of MFC through time.

Diachronically, Mesopotamian data pertaining to the religious spheres point to a transversal notion that deities were considered responsible for every cause–effect event observed/experienced by humans in their natural/cosmic surroundings. Such notion is especially visible on texts pertaining to the restoration of human health, where such an aspect was ultimately considered as a divine prerogative. Yet, these textual data also show how natural elements were basilar to the success of healing practices when thoroughly manipulated by specialists. Their examination through a perspective that intertwines the apparatus of History of Religions and Environmental History thus reveals great potential for contributing to the topic of human/nonhuman entanglements in the longue durée. With this paper, we propose to revisit the uses of aquatic fauna as displayed in Babylonian and Assyrian healing texts dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium and the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Although at a preliminary stage, our research has been guided by the combined theoretical-methodological perspective above-mentioned, aiming at highlighting the great importance conferred to these animals. Ultimately, we aim at stressing the importance of addressing the dependence of Mesopotamian specialists and patients on such elements of Nature to better understand this ancient context.

Como podemos contar uma história humana num mundo mais-do-que-humano? Como se percebem as influências e consequências para pessoas e sociedades do mundo natural e físico que as envolve e do qual dependem para sobreviver, sem esquecer os vários agenciamentos envolvidos e interligados? E como o fazemos no mundo líquido, fluído, azul e profundo dos oceanos e águas costeiras do planeta? A problemática é histórica, mas reflete-se também na atualidade e futuro das sociedades humanas e sua relação e dependência dos ecossistemas e recursos dos mares e oceanos. Nesta nota científica abordo o valor das humanidades para o conhecimento histórico dos oceanos e o seu contributo para aumentar a literacia para os oceanos. Uso o caso de estudo da história natural e exploração de manatins com vista a perceber áreas de distribuição no passado e apresento o projeto interdisciplinar e colaborativo ‘4-Oceans’ e sua agenda de investigação. Para tal, revejo brevemente a história ambiental de manatins e pessoas no Atlântico da época moderna e refiro-me à importância de considerar os seres humanos como agentes ecológicos e outras espécies animais como co-construtores das narrativas históricas.

This article addresses broad and plural concepts of landscape, considering its diversity of meanings and uses, which go far beyond its environmental and geographical connotations. It discusses the relationship between humanity and the rest of the natural world as a global process that combines physical and cultural aspects, and it seeks to highlight the contribution of environmental humanities to the understanding of these. Given the multiple conceptual interpretations and meanings of landscapes, we argue that current research trends are good examples of what we can consider as postdisciplinary approaches, challenging both disciplinary and interdisciplinary models of analysis. In this context, we use the recent pandemic scenarios as an example.

Cultural constructions of landscapes, space and environments, and of people’s relationship with nature, have in the Cape Verde Islands a perspective of their own and might have been mediated by the whale. To address perceptions about these marine mammals, historical sources, literature, art, memory and heritage were considered. Whaling influenced history and diaspora and is reflected in literary productions. Remains of whales are found in museums and used as decorative pieces and local art. We found the Cape Verdean seascapes as being culturally and naturally constructed and the whale occupies a true ‘place’ of convergence.

Marine megafauna has always elicited contrasting feelings. In the past, large marine animals were often depicted as fantastic mythological creatures and dangerous monsters, while also arousing human curiosity. Marine megafauna has been a valuable resource to exploit, leading to the collapse of populations and local extinctions. In addition, some species have been perceived as competitors of fishers for marine resources and were often actively culled. Since the 1970s, there has been a change in the perception and use of megafauna. The growth of marine tourism, increasingly oriented towards the observation of wildlife, has driven a shift from extractive to non-extractive use, supporting the conservation of at least some species of marine megafauna. In this paper, we review and compare the changes in the perception and use of three megafaunal groups, cetaceans, elasmobranchs and groupers, with a special focus on European cultures. We highlight the main drivers and the timing of these changes, compare different taxonomic groups and species, and highlight the implications for management and conservation. One of the main drivers of the shift in perception, shared by all the three groups of megafauna, has been a general increase in curiosity towards wildlife, stimulated inter alia by documentaries (from the early 1970s onwards), and also promoted by easy access to scuba diving. At the same time, environmental campaigns have been developed to raise public awareness regarding marine wildlife, especially cetaceans, a process greatly facilitated by the rise of Internet and the World Wide Web. Currently, all the three groups (cetaceans, elasmobranchs and groupers) may represent valuable resources for ecotourism. Strikingly, the economic value of live specimens may exceed their value for human consumption. A further change in perception involving all the three groups is related to a growing understanding and appreciation of their key ecological role. The shift from extractive to non-extractive use has the potential for promoting species conservation and local economic growth. However, the change in use may not benefit the original stakeholders (e.g. fishers or whalers) and there may therefore be a case for providing compensation for disadvantaged stakeholders. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that even non-extractive use may have a negative impact on marine megafauna, therefore regulations are needed.