Paper short abstract:

American territories had been explored by several European nations. Taking both Portuguese and British cases, Charleston and Baía, the aim of this communication is to compare the emergence of two continental port cities of two Modern maritime empires in the context of European expansion.

Paper long abstract:

The increase of maritime empires in the Early Modern Age was supported, in a first stage, by the navigation capacity but also by support given by the port-cities, responsible for the connection between the metropolis and the new territories. Centering on the Atlantic world during the 16th-17th centuries, the main goal of this study is to understand the first experiences of settlement and port-city positioning in the American territory using as case studies Charleston in America and Salvador da Baía in Brasil. These two examples will reflect different imperial policies, Portuguese and British, not very often compared. The objective is to analyze geographical features, structures and functions adapted to both European referents and interests and how settlers and royal agents implemented port models. To guarantee new ports functioning for crowns expansion purposes, Portuguese and British, had to choose, based on empirical observation, the best position for a port and for the settlement. The natural characteristics were the principal referent for that choice both in land and on aquatic space. With this assumption a port, as it was understand by the time, was a place good for having ships safely, well anchored and protected from dominant winds and storms. Having some historical descriptions of the first experiences of the port functioning, geographical and cartographic and archaeological elements as principal data, the proposal for this presentation is to analyze these two case studies of Charleston and Salvador da Baia as port-cities of the New World.