The itineraries of Quaresma Delgado, explorer contracted by colonial authorities to investigate and map part of Minas Gerais and Bahia "sertão" in the 1730's, are studied as tipical accounts of reconnaissance, characteristic of a period when the exploration and mapping of the territory fortified themselves as illustrated scientific practices. The text - the account of reconnaissance - and the cartographic image - the map - produced by Quaresma Delgado are treated as constituent elements mutually complementary of a technical study, whose central aim is to describe, in a controlled language, the natural and human landscapes observed by the explorer.
Sertão; Account of reconnaissance; Illustration
