Therefore, the Academy did not serve as a bridge between its historical studies class and the pedagogical and archival institutions that could have most benefited from new research —the University of Coimbra, the aula de diplomática, and the central archive of the Torre do Tombo. Unlike in France, the figure of the academic historian was not associated with the teaching of historical content, the constant challenge of publishing texts in specialised regular press, or the debate of historical matters in the national parliament. In liberal France, a historian like Guizot and a philosopher like Cousin took on a prominent political and intellectual role, which clearly signalled a society that was passionately engaged in history and the debate of ideas: dedicated resources and reinforced efforts were allocated to the recovery and preservation of the past, in monuments and documents. In contrast, the academic historian expected to drive historical and scientific innovation within the ACL was disconnected from the aspirations of new audiences, both popular and cultivated, who regularly enjoyed the gratification of new discoveries in philology, archaeology, and geography, as was the case in France, Britain, and the German-speaking world.

Th us, the ACL had distanced itself so much from the debates within Portuguese society at large (unlike during earlier periods, such as the adoption of the co rtes in 1820) that the central issue of Casamansa (Guinea) in 1839-1841 appears not to have been touched upon within its ranks, despite drawing the attention of key members such as Fr. Francisco de São Luís, the Viscount of Santarém, Herculano, and even the parliamentarian Oliveira Marreca. The corporative attitude towards Herculano’s innovative project História de Portugal, particularly regarding the miracle of Ourique issue, is telling of the institution’s lack of an innovative spirit. Meanwhile, both in Portugal and abroad, new associations were emerging to generate reflections and historical discourse on geography, history, and the overseas territories. Examples include the Sociedade Marítima e Colonial de Lisboa, the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, and the Société de Géographie in Paris, where historians and geographers like Lopes de Lima, the Viscount of Santarém, Avezac, and Varnhagen published and debated texts with much greater regularity and dynamism than what was offered by the simple publication of sources proposed in the three volumes of the Colecção de Notícias para a História e Geografia das Nações Ultramarinas (1836-1856).

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