This article analyzes the minute process of collecting information on the Brazilian colony through the news divulged by a scientific periodical, Philosophical Transactions, the official organ of the Royal Society in London, as well as the role played by diplomats, scientists, academics and businessmen living in England in the construction of the image of Brazil before the chronological marker traditionally pointed to by official historiography as .the beginning of all the changes.: 1808.
Enlightenment; Philosophical Transactions; History of Science