Imperial Botany and Geopolitical Crisis: The Portuguese Botanical Transfer Strategy Between Brazil and India in the 17th-18th Centuries

This paper examines the strategic botanical transfer program implemented by the Portuguese Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries as a response to the Dutch colonial expansion that threatened Portuguese hegemony in the Asian spice trade. Through comprehensive analysis of historical documentation, primary sources, and contemporary scholarship, this study demonstrates how Portugal’s loss of key Asian territories—particularly the Spice Islands (1605), Ceylon (1639), and Malacca (1641)—precipitated a desperate imperial strategy to cultivate Asian spice plants in Brazil while simultaneously transferring Brazilian fruits to India.