History of two islands: the colonial myths of the Brazil and Guayana Islands

Abstract

In the American colonial world existed two myths about the insularity of the territories situated in the northern and southern shores of the Amazon river. Both myths, as the rest of legends collected in the European chronicles, seem to find their origin in the dialogue between the medieval expectations of the conquistadores and the complex reality of the Amerindian societies during the conquest. For that reason, colonial myths can be read as ethnohistorical sources and can be used in the construction of new historical narratives. This article proposes that the establishment of the Portuguese colonial frontier in the Delta and the on Lower Amazon during the XVIIth century was due, in part, to the pre-existence of an Amerindian frontier in the same regions. The ecos of this frontier can still be heard through the colonial myths of the Islands of Brazil and Guayana.