The main goal of this paper is to present how the language of commercial humanism can be a keyword to understand the John Armitage's History of Brazil written in 1836. This language is defined by John Pocock as a combination between the concepts of virtue and commerce, which were in distinct political vocabulary until the 18th century, in order to form a new language in which the social sphere has become central. In this sense, the development of virtues of the new social man should be given precisely in contact with people and things in trade relations. Armitage has tended to characterize the Brazilian national history as the inverse of what would be the story of a commercial society mainly because the trade restrictions it was faced and the lack of stimulation by Portugal, a stagnated country. As such, it presents D. Pedro I having a propensity to foment wars instead of stimulating trade and social interactions.
history of historiography; imperial historiography; historiogra-phical language