Brazil and Portugal: the national history between tradition and renewal

Abstract

This assay aims to study the representation of the Nation according to the formulations of the Iberian intellectual elites in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. It discusses the idea of the Colonial Empire decadence, as constructed in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the perception of a setback in reference to the central powers of capitalism. In order to do that it focuses on the debate concerning the Iberian decadence and the chances of organizing a new Portuguese Empire in Africa, in the context of the public action of the so-called Generation of 70.