This article aims to discuss the meanings of nation and region, as well as the issue of national unity, present in the discourses on the Brazilian history and Santa Catarina state history. Such discourses were constructed and disseminated during the First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930). To this end, we have analyzed two textbooks - História do Brasil. Curso Superior (Ribeiro, 1900); and Pequena história catarinense (Boiteux, 1921) - considering their respective contexts of production and circulation. Both history and geography served not only to legitimate state borders, but also to construct a common past and tradition which highlighted the specificities of each region and their respective contributions to national growth and progress. We expect this article to contribute to bringing to light the political bases upon which regional histories in the past settled in relation to the Brazilian history, as well as to strengthening the debate on the current production of regional history textbooks.
nation; region; textbooks
