Institutions

Funding Entity

Programa Operacional Sociedade do Conhecimento

Main Research Unit

CHAM — Centro de Humanidades

Sponsors

Câmara Municipal de Lagos

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Fundação da Casa de Bragança

Partnerships

Instituto de Estudos Medievais / Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas/Universidade Nova de Lisboa

This project, a joint venture between CHAM and the Universidade dos Açores, aims to stimulate the production of multimedia contents dedicated to science, education and culture, thus stimulating the usage of ICT by a large segment of the population. The Virtual Encyclopaedia of Portuguese Expansion (EVE) creation aims to provide information on the Portuguese expansion in the world through articles, maps, tables and summary tables, but scientifically reliable.

The Virtual Encyclopaedia of Portuguese Expansion, with an experimental prototype since September 2004, will accumulate the advantages of a development mainly connected to the academic world with the technical flexibility provided by digital media. Thanks to new technologies, it will be possible to add articles, update bibliographies and establish a dynamic real-time flow of information. Readers with the required skills will be encouraged to contribute with their corrections or other suggestions to a specific email address, followed by a thorough review of the proposals and suggestions.

Thus, texts, tables, maps and images will create a universe that will allow quick and efficient searches of specific information, necessary, for example, for educational, academic or journalistic projects. On the other hand, the digital interface will also promote interaction with non-specialised public, notably by the dynamic use of written and visuals materials. The abundance of links between articles, maps, photographs and iconographic materials will encourage users to a free navigation, but with historical sense, given the universe of the topics discussed.

Goals

The contents of the encyclopaedia are aimed at a broad audience, not only in Portugal but abroad, including secondary school students, media professionals, academic students and researchers as well as anyone interested in acquiring knowledge about the history of the expansion. The project will venture in the creation of a bilingual product (Portuguese/English) that presents the History of Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion to the majority of University students from all over the world.

Thus, fundamentally, the encyclopaedia will be a vehicle for the international dissemination of the history and historiography of the Portuguese presence in the world. The project will cover a wide geographical area, ranging from the Azores to Japan, with a chronology between the early 15th century and the late 18th century. It highlights the national character of the Portuguese expansive enterprise, but also its integration within a broader European framework and its importance for an emerging European consciousness, nowadays between the critics and the apologia of the expansive Western process.

Executive Committee

Alexandra Curvelo
André Murteira
André Teixeira
Andreia Martins Carvalho
Francisco Caramelo
José Damião Rodrigues
Pedro Cardim
Rui Manuel Loureiro
Teresa Lacerda
Zoltán Biedermann