Paper short abstract:

The project Animal Biographies aims to create a pan-European network focused on the interactions between humans and other animals in the construction of early modern empires, grounded on 5 pillars of analysis that cross environmental history and humanities, animal history and animal studies.

Paper long abstract:

Rhinoceros and elephants in a parade in Lisbon. Sperm whales hunted off Brazil. South American and African monkeys and parrots in noble houses. Unicorn horns in Natural History cabinets. These are just some of the non-human animals that made up the early modern history of Portugal and its empire. Notwithstanding, these are still largely invisible actors in Portuguese historiography and academia. The project Animal Biographies: A network of agencies in the making of early modern empires aims to create a pan-European network focused on the interactions between humans and other animals in the construction of early modern empires. Falling within the scope of environmental history and humanities, animal history and animal studies, the project echoes today's environmental and societal issues. It is grounded on 5 complementary pillars of analysis:

1) Moving animals - animals as a driving force for human activities, plus issues related to the transport and keeping of animals; 2) Consumption and commerce - extraction, transformation and commercialization of animals and products; 3) Represented and symbolic animals - the cultural role of animals and the various ways in which they have been understood and perceived by humans; 4) Knowledge and Natural History - production of European and non-European discourses on animals (real, mythological, living or preserved); 5) Animals and health - animals and their by-products in the production of medicinal and therapeutic substances and animals as causes of disease.