Call for papers for thematic dossier

Proponents

Daniel Rojas, Grenoble Alpes University, ILCEA4, EA7365.

Gabriel Passetti, Fluminense Federal University, Strategic Defense and Security Studies.

Bicentenary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Brazil and Colombia: Actors, Themes, and Scenarios in the Long Nineteenth Century

The commemoration, in 2027, of the bicentennial of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Colombia offers a privileged opportunity to reflect on the ties that have connected the two countries over two centuries of shared history.

 

If the international historiography of Latin America has emphasized the study of Brazil’s insertion into the international system through its ties with England, the continental European powers, or the United States, the analysis of its relations with other South American countries significantly enriches our understanding of its foreign policy. By privileging ties with the great powers of the nineteenth century, many studies have relegated regional dynamics to the background, despite their essential role in consolidating the international presence of imperial Brazil and defining its strategic interests on the continent. Bilateral agreements, diplomatic missions, border disputes, military alliances, and commercial exchanges with its South American neighbors were equally central to the construction of an active and autonomous diplomacy in the post-independence context.

In Colombia, research has traditionally focused on ties with the United States and certain European powers, as well as with Venezuela, Panama, and the Andean republics — particularly Ecuador and Peru. The history of the Amazon region remained for a long time an unexplored field, which only recently has begun to open up to more systematic investigations. Relations with imperial Brazil, although consistent and marked by significant episodes, have often been relegated to the background, partly due to the lack of comparative studies and the predominance of a national historical narrative or of a historiography centered on the Atlantic space. However, by reconstructing the political, diplomatic, commercial, and cultural exchanges between Brazil and Colombia throughout the nineteenth century, it becomes possible to reveal the existence of a dense network of interactions that went beyond formal borders and influenced both national trajectories and the regional configurations of the South American international system.

The range of topics to be explored is broad: negotiations to delimit an uncertain Amazonian frontier; disputes and agreements over free navigation on the Amazon River; the circulation of people and ideas; the establishment of consular networks; mutual perceptions in the public sphere; the exchange of objects for natural history collections; tensions inherent to a still-forming international system; the participation of Colombians/Neogranadines and Brazilians in international meetings and diplomatic events; the impact of slavery on inter-American relations; as well as the ways in which both countries engaged with the transformations of international law throughout the nineteenth century — particularly in relation to the recognition of sovereignties, neutrality norms, conflict mediation, and the codification of bilateral and multilateral treaties.

 

Special attention will also be paid to the institutionalization and professionalization of diplomacy in both countries, marked by the emergence of permanent diplomatic careers, the creation of training institutions for diplomats, and the circulation of legal and doctrinal models of European origin adapted to Latin American contexts. Analyzing the profiles, trajectories, and practices of diplomatic agents — both official and informal — opens a promising avenue for understanding the personal, family, and intellectual networks that sustained bilateral relations. These elements, among others, reveal the complexity and density of Brazilian-Colombian relations in a nineteenth century that was anything but peripheral in the broader transformations of the modern international system.

 

The aim of this dossier is to bring together original research articles that explore, from a historical perspective, the actors, themes, and scenarios that shaped Brazilian-Colombian relations during the long nineteenth century. We will favor contributions from political, diplomatic, economic, and transnational history, without excluding works from social or cultural history that engage with the proposed international questions. The rigorous use of primary sources will be a key criterion for article selection.

 

The dossier will be structured around three main axes:

 

1. The actors of the bilateral relationship, including diplomats, merchants, military personnel, missionaries, travelers, Indigenous populations, and other intermediaries involved in building the ties between the two countries.
   
   
2. The main themes of interaction, such as border delimitation, river navigation, slavery, trade treaties, the circulation of people and ideas, or strategies of regional balance.
   
   
3. The scenarios in which these relations developed: from imperial and republican capitals to the Amazonian borderlands; Atlantic and river ports; South American, hemispheric, or global diplomatic conferences; as well as spaces of transit and information exchange, such as the Isthmus of Panama, missionary routes, and diplomatic sociability circles in various parts of the world.