The article, written as an essay, takes advantage of the celebrations of the bicentennial of the arrival of the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro to discuss the national theme in the Brazilian historiography. It argues that during the 19th Century Brazil was an aspiration rather than a reality and that its history was written almost exclusively from the political center in Rio de Janeiro. Since the 1930's, the state of São Paulo, through its University (USP), succesfully disputed with the capital the writing of national history. Today, the democratization of our historiographic production is changing this picture and facing new challenges regarding the relationship among the regional, the national and the international.
D. João VI; Brazil; Historiography