Making science for the Portuguese Empire: The Royal Maritime, Military and Geographic Society (1798–1809)

Abstract

The Sociedade Real Marítima, Militar e Geográfica (Royal Maritime, Military and Geographic Society) was a scientific institution founded in Portugal by the Minister of the Navy, Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, in the late eighteenth century. Its advent was contemporary with the rise of hydrographic institutes in several European maritime powers. However, the Royal Maritime, Military and Geographic Society differed from the specialization of those institutions, being deeply involved in determining longitudes and producing good precision hydrographic cartography. Conceived as a multidisciplinary institute gathering scientific and technical knowledge and focusing on overseas and metropolitan territories, it had an intense activity, resulting in a scientific production (unfortunately largely lost) in tune with its foreign counterparts. However, and unlike other European hydrographic institutes, this Portuguese institute had an ephemeral existence.