It is well known that throughout the 19th century the Brazilian territory was frequently visited by scientific expeditions conducted by naturalists interested in seeing, studying, and eventually exploring its natural resources. This paper aims at examining another kind of scientific expeditions also frequent from the middle of the century until the beginning of the 20th century but rather neglected in historiography: the solar eclipse expeditions. Through the analysis of the reports produced by the astronomers who traveled to Brazil with the purpose of observing total solar eclipses it is possible to apprehend some patterns in the organization and textual accounts of these expeditions, which may reveal from an unexpected point of view the close interconnections existent between astronomy and society.
Scientific expedition; Travelers; Solar eclipses; Scientific cooperation; History of Astronomy
