A New Poland in South America? The Establishment of the First Polish Colony in Paraná, Brazil, 1860s–70s

Using a series of travel narratives and archival sources from the mid nineteenth century, this presentation will deal with the foundation of Nowa Polska (New Poland), the first Polish colony established in Brazil in 1871. The establishment of this colony occurred at a time when Polish territories in Central Europe were assailed by epidemic diseases and under the political dominion of three imperial forces—namely the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires. The paper’s main argument is that, at a period when Poles were facing intense forms of cultural imperialism in the metropole(s), Polish interests for colonies increased as a way to overcome cultural anxieties of inferiority and extinction. The aim is to offer a perspective about how Polish subjectivities came to be shaped by a set of values and practices derived not only from “discovering” the traditions of indigenous and formerly colonized populations, but also from observing other Europeans exercising informal colonial power in Latin America. Recasting these experiences will not only shed light on the history of the Polish partitions, but will also help us to put in better perspective the imperial, racial, and eugenic drive that underpinned the foundation of European colonies throughout Latin America.  Moreover, the different political plights that Poles endured in nineteenth-century Europe add to the complexity of Polish cultural relations in the colonies they tried to establish across the Atlantic divide and offer an interesting viewpoint in the history of colonization and civilizing projects that one would simply miss out in the study of traditional forms of imperial and colonial systems.