Publicação
The Magic of the Flag: A Colonial Story (East Timor, 1894)
| Resumo: | In 1894 the governor of Timor, José Celestino da Silva (Silva 1901), reported to his superior, the Governor of Macao, on the extremely difficult conditions of governing in the remote district under his charge. The manuscript of this report, held today in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, contains the narrative cited above – a literary image, if you like, of the colonial significance of a formerly potent national symbol: the Portuguese monarchic flag. Throughout the nineteenth century, with the escalation of modern nationalism – especially after the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy in Portugal in 1820–22 – the flag bearing the royal arms of the King of Portugal came to be seen as a materialization of an abstract national community rather than simply a dynastic sign and insignia of the king’s authority. The situation reported in Timor reflected this modern attachment to the monarchic flag as a token of nationhood. In this report, the hostility of the so-called Timorese reinos (kingdoms) lay at the core of the governor’s concerns. The balance of forces between the small colonial community and the many indigenous kingdoms seemed rather disadvantageous. |
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| Autores principais: | Roque, Ricardo |
| Ano: | 2023 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | capítulo de livro |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso restrito |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | In 1894 the governor of Timor, José Celestino da Silva (Silva 1901), reported to his superior, the Governor of Macao, on the extremely difficult conditions of governing in the remote district under his charge. The manuscript of this report, held today in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, contains the narrative cited above – a literary image, if you like, of the colonial significance of a formerly potent national symbol: the Portuguese monarchic flag. Throughout the nineteenth century, with the escalation of modern nationalism – especially after the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy in Portugal in 1820–22 – the flag bearing the royal arms of the King of Portugal came to be seen as a materialization of an abstract national community rather than simply a dynastic sign and insignia of the king’s authority. The situation reported in Timor reflected this modern attachment to the monarchic flag as a token of nationhood. In this report, the hostility of the so-called Timorese reinos (kingdoms) lay at the core of the governor’s concerns. The balance of forces between the small colonial community and the many indigenous kingdoms seemed rather disadvantageous. |
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