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THE TEAM
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He emphasised the influence of maritime factors on the country: “the constant dependence on the sea,” “the dominant maritime character” (Telles, Portugal, pp. 6 and 82).
However, neither the intersection nor the merging of history and geography appeared to be detrimental to either discipline. Both ought naturally to be invoked when addressing issues that require mutual clarification. For instance, geography and history are essential in discussions around the reasons for Portugal’s independence. Determining whether there is a clearly defined individuality in the territory where what would later become the Portuguese state emerged and developed is an old debate (Peres, Como nasceu Portugal [How Portugal Was Born]). It is important to consider whether a prefiguration of the state can be traced, assuming that the territory was, in a sense, pre-delimited, awaiting the creation of the political structure. This discussion, along with the often contradictory opinions, dates back to Herculano.
Meanwhile, in Coimbra, the “accomplished geologist and geographer” Anselmo Ferraz de Carvalho (1878-1955), a professor at the Faculty of Sciences, was employed in the teaching of geography, where he was reportedly an effective lecturer. He is credited with the first geography of Portugal, published in Barcelona in 1930. Elsewhere, geography professors were hired wherever available, such as Léon Bourdon, who came in 1927-1928 to teach geography courses. Aristides de Amorim Girão, a graduate in Historical Geography and a former student of Anselmo Ferraz de Carvalho, completed his doctorate in 1922 and went on to have a long career as a full professor of geography until his death in 1960. In Porto, at the Faculty founded in 1919, the physician, anthropologist, and ethnologist António Augusto Mendes Correia, who also taught at the Faculty of Sciences, was responsible for teaching geographical subjects in the new Faculty of Arts, with assistants António Luís Gomes and Artur de Magalhães Basto.
