ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to recognize the merit and scope of the influence of António Manuel Hespanha, whose work broke with a classic approach of Brazilian historiography of the colonial period, that is, he established a new historiographical paradigm through the operationalization of new categories and concepts. In the second part, we begin with a brief assessment of the current historiographical discussion on states and monarchies in modern Europe. By doing so, we intend to contribute to the discussion of the historiography on the society in the tropics understood to be part of the Portuguese pluricontinental monarchy.
KEYWORDS
António Manuel Hespanha; Ancien regime; overseas societies