Conhecimentos “vulgares” sobre a flora do Piauí: uma análise a partir da expedição científica de Vicente Jorge Dias Cabral (1799-1803)

Abstract

This article, presented as a final project for the Bachelor's Degree in History at the State University of Piauí/Oeiras Campus, aimed to analyze the recurrence of "common" knowledge about plants in the documentation produced during Vicente Jorge Dias Cabral's scientific expedition between Maranhão and Piauí, from 1799 to 1803. The main objective of the voyage was to inventory the plants, animals, and minerals, particularly in the captaincy of São José do Piauí, which he traveled from north to south. In the analysis of the expedition's main legacy source, the Collection of Observations of Natural Products of Piauí, we focused on the section that addressed flora, describing its medicinal, dietary, and construction uses, in dialogue with the scientific assumptions of the time. In this text, it was possible to identify fragments that refer to local knowledge, such as: "commonly called," "a curious person assured me," "some people," "the poor people of the backlands." Thus, we consider that the scientific knowledge produced in the 18th century was constructed from the circulation of different forms of knowledge, including that held by non-European populations.