The Society of Jesus and its role in the formation of libraries in colonial Brazil

Abstract

The first schools and libraries in Brazil emerged in the second half of the 16th century, which, in many ways, is a product of the doctrinal actions by religious orders, especially the so called Society of Jesus, included in the context of the colonial project by the Portuguese Crown. Along the history of these educational institutions, the Jesuits acted in the catechization of indigenous people and in the training of some groups from the elite of society to become settlers. In those schools, which had their heyday in the 18th century, writing and reading were central within the pedagogical rationalization, contributing to the development of important collections of books with varied themes until the expulsion of the Order in 1759.This work whose methodology is the exploratory bibliographical research, had as a  main objective, to analyze the origins and development of Jesuit libraries in Brazil from the educational and evangelizing praxis that gave them their reason for constitution until their dismantling promoted by the Pombaline reforms.