Interview with Professor Arno Wehling: Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen

The Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation has interviewed Professor Arno Wehling — member-President of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute (IHGB) (1996-2019), with a PhD in History by USP, a professor at UFRJ and UNIRIO, and a visiting professor at the University of Porto — on Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, the Viscount of Porto Seguro. On February 17 we celebrate 216 years of Varnhagen’s birth.

Varnhagen was a historian, diplomat, and member of the armed forces. He is considered the father of Brazilian historiography. In the interview, Professor Wehling dealt with diverse topics such as the importance of Varnhagen’s work to Brazilian historiography, the importance of the Viscount of Porto Seguro to diplomacy and to Brazil’s politics, as well as the interrelation between integrity and national integration as addressed by Varnhagen.

Check out FUNAG’s podcast with Professor Wehling’s interview

Check out FUNAG’s channel for the video of the interview .

Check out the works published by FUNAG on Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen:

Varnhagen: diplomacia e pensamento estratégico [Varnhagen: diplomacy and strategic thinking]

The work gathers essays from historians and diplomats based on research conducted for the Seminar on the topic, organized by the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation (FUNAG) at the Rio Branco Institute (IRBr), in Brasília, on April 2016. Professor Wehling is responsible for the chapter titled “Integridade e integração nacional: duas ideias-força de Varnhagen” [Integrity and national integration: two of Varnhagen’s driving forces].

Pensamento Diplomático Brasileiro, v. I [Brazilian Diplomatic Thought, v. I]

In the first volume of this collection, which analyzes the contributions of twenty-six characters in Brazilian diplomatic history, Professor Arno Wehling is the author of the chapter on the Viscount of Porto Seguro.

História da independência do Brasil [A history of Brazilian independence]

Part of the Bicentennial: Brazil 200 Years – 1822-2022 collection, História da independência do Brasil is a posthumous work by Varnhagen, whose manuscript was found in the Baron of Rio Branco’s collection, and whose first edition was published by the IHGB in 1916.  This edition reproduces the second edition of the work, published by the IHGB in 1938.

Memorial orgânico: uma proposta para o Brasil em meados do século XIX [Organic memorial: a proposal for Brazil in the mid-19th century]

In 2016, FUNAG republished the book Memorial Orgânico , as revised by the author in 1850, and which was later defined as “a proposal for Brazil in the mid-19th century.” This is the work that best translates Varnhagen’s reflections on the serious challenges faced by what was then the Brazilian Empire.

A Missão Varnhagen nas Repúblicas do Pacífico: 1863 a 1867 [The Varnhagen Mission in the Pacific Republics: 1863 to 1867], v. I and v. II

With an introduction by Arno Wehling, this is the transcription of documents referring to a Varnhagen’s mission in the midst of the War of the Pacific, between Spain, the Pacific Republics, and the War of the Triple Alliance.