The printing press and the making of law: Angola and Brazil (19th and 20th centuries)

In cooperation with the ‘Núcleo de Estudos da Edição, Literatura e Imprensa’ (Unicamp), the project Global Legal History on the Ground is pleased to host the event The printing press and the making of law: Angola and Brazil (19th and 20th centuries). Unlike what happened in colonial spaces in the Indian Ocean region – where the printing press was introduced in the 16th century – the history of the printing press in Portuguese colonial domains in Africa and the Americas started in the 19th century. In Brazil the first press was installed immediately following the transfer of the Portuguese Crown to Rio de Janeiro and the creation of ‘Impressão Régia’ in 1808. In Angola, aiming to print the Official Boulettin and other administrative documents, the first printing press began operating in Luanda in 1845. Both regions witnessed a significant growth in the number of printing shops and a diversification of printed text in the years that followed. It should also be stressed that ‘judicial sections’ abounded in newspapers during this period, and a specialised legal press began to operate around the 1820s. In addition to a discussion about the specialisation of the 19-century press and its relation to articles focused on courts, this event focuses the role of the printing press as a space of normative production.