[Research Guidance: Brazil - Research Outline] Research Guidance Version Of Data : 6/8/2001

Table of Contents
Helps For Using This Research Outline
     References To Other Family History Library Publications
Archives And Libraries
     National Government Archives And Libraries
     State Archives
     Civil And District Civil Registry Offices
     Diocese And Parish Archives
     Libraries And Archives Of Portugal
     Private And Public Libraries
     Historical And Genealogical Societies
     Inventories, Registers, And Catalogs
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
     Bahia State Census
     São Paulo State Census
     Paraná State Census
     Polish Census
     Searching Census Records
     Searching In Big Cities
Church Directories
Church History
     Roman Catholic
     Judaism
     Other Religions
Church Records
     General Historical Background
     Information Recorded In Church Registers
     Records Not At The Family History Library
     Search Strategies
Civil Registration
     Information Recorded In Civil Registers
     Locating Civil Registration Records
     Records At The Family History Library
     Locating Records Not At The Family History Library
     Search Strategies
Court Records
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
     Finding Your Ancestor’s Town Of Origin
     Passenger Lists
     Immigration To Brazil
     Records Of Brazilian Emigrants To The United States
     Other Records Of Departure
Encyclopedias And Dictionaries
Gazetteers
     Finding Place Names In The Family History Library Catalog
     Modern Place Names
     Historical Place Names
Genealogy
     Major Collections And Databases
     Family Histories
     Computer Networks And Bulletin Boards
Heraldry
Historical Geography
     The Captaincies
     States
History
     Local Histories
Jewish Records
Land And Property
Language And Languages
     Language Aids
Maps
     Using Maps
     Finding The Specific Town On The Map
     Finding Maps And Atlases
Military Records
     Military History
Minorities
Names, Personal
     Surnames
     Given Names
Native Races
Nobility
Notarial Records
Occupations
Periodicals
     Obtaining Periodicals
Probate Records
Slavery And Bondage
Social Life And Customs
Societies
Taxation
Other Records Of Brazil
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions

MAPS

Maps are an important source to locate the places where your ancestor lived. They help you see the neighboring towns and geographic features of the area he or she came from.

You can use maps to locate places, geographical features, transportation routes, and proximities to other towns. Historical maps are especially useful for understanding boundary changes.

Maps are published individually or as an atlas, which is a bound collection of maps. Maps may also be included in gazetteers, guidebooks, local histories, and history texts.

There are different types of maps that will help you in different ways. Historical atlases describe the growth and development of countries. They show boundaries, migration routes, settlement patterns, military campaigns, and other historical information. Road atlases are useful because of the detail they provide.

Using Maps

Maps must be used carefully for several reasons:

There are often several places with the same name. For example, there are at least five towns called São José in present-day Brazil.

The spelling and names of some towns may have changed since your ancestor lived there. For example, the city presently known as Ribeirão Preto was previously called Entre Rios e São Sebastião do Ribeirão Preto. Some localities also have different names in different languages.

Place names are often misspelled in documents or foreign sources. Difficult names may have been shortened and important diacritic marks omitted. For example, Tietê may be found as Tiete on some maps.

Political boundaries are not always clearly indicated on maps.

Finding the Specific Town on the Map

To do successful research in Brazil you must identify the town where your ancestor lived. Because many towns have the same name, you may need some additional information before you can locate the correct town on a map. You will be more successful if you have some information about the town. You can search gazetteers, histories, family records, and other sources to learn all you can about the following:

The município (municipality) your ancestor’s town belonged to

The state the ancestor came from

The name of the parish where your ancestor was baptized or married

Towns where related ancestors lived

The size of the town

The occupation of your ancestor or his or her relatives (sometimes an indication of the size of the town or industries of the town)

Nearby features such as rivers and mountains

Industries of the area

Date when the town was founded

Other names the town was known by

Use gazetteers to identify the municipality and state your ancestor’s town was in. This will distinguish it from other towns of the same name and help you correctly locate it on a map. See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline for more information.

Finding Maps and Atlases

Collections of maps and atlases are available at numerous historical societies and at public and university libraries. Major collections for Brazil are at the National Library, in Rio de Janeiro.

The Family History Library has a good collection of Brazilian maps and atlases. These are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under:

BRAZIL - MAPS

Below is an excellent set of maps that comes with an index of towns. It lists the longitude and latitude of each town and two coordinates where it can be found on the map. It can be used as a gazetteer:

Carta do Brasil ao milionésimo (Map of Brazil on the millionth scale). Rio de Janeiro: Serviço Gráfico da Fundação IBGE, 1972. (FHL book/map 981 E3in; computer number 0019299.)

Some other helpful maps at the Family History Library are found in:

Carta do Brasil (Map of Brazil). Scale 1:500,000. 68 maps. Rio de Janeiro: Conselho Nacional de Geografia, 1945–1967. (FHL map 981E7b; computer number 0027230.) The library lacks numbers 10, 11, 19, 47, and 50.

Helpful atlases for Brazil are:

Ira, Rudolf. Atlas do Brasil Globo: com os mapas políticos e físicos do Brasil e os mapas dos seus Estados e Território (The Global Atlas of Brazil: with political and fiscal maps of Brazil and maps of their states and territories). 30 maps. Porto Alegre: Editora Globo, 1960. (FHL book 981 E7i; computer number 0026456.)

Mello, Francisco Ignácio Marcondes Homem de. Atlas do Brazil (Atlas of Brazil). 29 maps. Rio de Janeiro: F. Briguiet, 1909. (FHL book 981 E7m; film 0924466 item 3; computer number 0030778.)

For other helps on finding place names, see the “Gazetteers” section of this outline.

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Version of Data: 6/8/2001]